The future of the Euro-Mediterannean security dialogue

cooperation between countries”. Cohen also said that “he saw during the joint naval landing an
Italian ship carrying a British boat to transport Egyptian soldiers”.
5. The public opinion response and the media covering are also important factors.
“Seminar diplomacy”, visits, and other forms of “soft” military dialogue do not generally attract
the media or teach the public. At the start of joint military cooperation between Egypt and
Western countries, newspapers covering was always brief and found only in the inner pages. Now
the situation is different. For instance, Bright Star 99 was covered on front pages of all first line
newspapers and magazines. The coverage emphasized the regional character of the event, and
mixed military news with human and personal information about commanders, officers, and
soldiers (e.g. stories about women’s role in the army, military service conditions, historical
background of the participating battalions and regiments, etc).
6. Joint exercises are always associated with information problems. Some people see them
as legalized spying. A classical question by almost all correspondents to me was: “Don't you
think that the main goal of other countries participating in the exercise is to collect information
about our army and our country?” Generally speaking, sharing military information is still a
problem in security cooperation.
7. Use of military forces for humanitarian tasks on regional level is one of the important
by-products of multinational joint exercises. The presence of soldiers and officers in military
uniform among civilians of other country during crises improves political environment and
promotes regional identity.
8. From the EMP perspective a number of important questions might be raised:
• What should be the proper role of the Euro-Mediterranean dialogue in planning for
such activity?
• What is the EU’s possible contribution within the framework of its Mediterranean
policy?
• How can joint exercises serve the EMP’s “soft” security issues like drug trafficking,
terrorism, and environmental disasters in the Mediterranean?
• Is it more appropriate for the EMP to limit its role to training centres and mission
conceptualization, and to leave field planning and implementation for other
institutions?
As a final last remark, which is very important although it might seem not much related to the
subject, I would like to say that in spite of the spirit of partnership that surrounded Bright Star 99,
it has awakened unfortunately the sad memories of Land-Mines Tragedy in the Western Desert of
Egypt. The British, German, and Italian troops came again few kilometres from “Al-Alamein”
area where more than 18 million pieces of ordnance and land-mines were buried in the sand
during the Second World War. The soldiers of the three countries might have been even
instructed before the exercise to avoid the dangerous areas.
The Land-Mines Tragedy in Egypt is a good example of how historical mistakes should
be corrected before they endanger future cooperation hopes. Many Egyptian observers raised the
subject during the exercise. They believe that Britain, Germany and Italy should assume
responsibility for the removal and clean-up operations of these dangerous objects. It may be also
seen as an ambitious humanitarian EMP cooperation project for the future.
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