EGYPT’S REGIONAL POWER AGENDA IN NORTH AFRICA: A CASE STUDY OF THE SUDAN CONFLICT (DARFUR)

Acquiring the status of a regional power has centered on a number of criteria, ranging from material capabilities such as wealth, strong military, good economy, good governance, geographic location to employment of good foreign policy instruments. In all these, scholars have overlooked the role and contribution aspiring regional powers make to security issues within a region. This paper demonstrates the crucial significance of regional security roles as a means for regional powers to reaffirm their status. Through a case study of the ongoing conflict in the western part of Sudan (Darfur), this paper analyses the role Egypt must play if it wants to regain its status as a regional power in NA ; this position lost since the Arab Spring in 2011. Applying the Regional Security Complex and Securitization Theory, this paper observes that, Egypt has failed to play an active role in the NA region, due to its inability to ensure security interdependence collectively among member states, especially failing to play an active regional security role in the ongoing conflict in the Darfur region in Sudan. This paper observes that, Egypt’s inability to initiate any effective regional security role in the Darfur crisis is attributed to its own internal problems it faces as a country both economically and politically, and more importantly the growing fear that member states in the region may refer to Egypt’s past record of problems engaging in similar conflict. This paper therefore concludes that, until Egypt accepts to take up the challenge of bringing together all the member states within the North African region to solve the Darfur crisis through security interdependence and also, carve a new political character for itself which would allow member states to accept and recognize its authority, Egypt would continue to lag in its quest for regional power status.