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Resolution 877 (1987)
Egypt's role in the Middle East today
The Assembly,
1. Recalling its past resolutions on the general situation in the Middle East, including the situation in Lebanon and the Gulf war, especially Resolutions 804 (1983), 869 (1986) and 873 (1987);
2. Recalling also its ongoing and firmly pursued action for the development of democracy worldwide (the Strasbourg Conference), the struggle against international terrorism and the North-South dialogue and connected European Public Campaign on NorthSouth Interdependence and Solidarity, due to take place in the spring of 1988;
3. Emphasising its own responsibility as a forum for dialogue sought by leaders from the Middle East region, including Mr Hosni Mubarak, President of Egypt, on 28 January 1986, Mr Shimon Peres, Prime Minister of Israel, on 22 April 1986 and Crown Prince Hassan of Jordan on 29 January 1987;
4. Bearing in mind the report of its Political Affairs Committee (Doc. 5712) on the fact-finding mission carried out in Cairo by its sub-committee on the situation in the Middle East, from 2 to 4 February 1987;
5. Recalling the statement issued by President Mubarak and Prime Minister Peres in Alexandria on 12 September 1986 following their summit meeting, in which they solemnly declared 1987 "a year of negotiations for peace", and dedicated their own efforts to the continued pursuit of a solution to the Palestinian problem "in all its aspects as well as the achievement of a comprehensive peace in the region", a position reaffirmed in their joint cornmuniqué of 27 February 1987, which also specifically proposed the convening of an international conference this year;
6. Noting increasingly insistent calls in the Arab world and beyond, especially following the Summit of the Islamic Conference Organisation held in Kuwait from 26 to 28 January 1987, that Egypt should resume her natural role among the leading nations of the region, for which she is destined by history, geography and a preference for dialogue rather than violent confrontation;
7. Aware that any increased economic hardship in Egypt could threaten social and political stability there, and risk exploitation by fundamentalist and other extremist tendencies at the expense of the forces of progress, moderation and dialogue;
8. Noting with satisfaction that the elections to the Egyptian People's Assembly held on 6 and 13 April 1987 were organised under conditions ensuring wider popular and political participation, thus consolidating institutional pluralism, and looking forward to Egypt's participation in the 2nd Strasbourg Conference in September 1987, with a parliamentary delegation reflecting the relative strengths of the political parties returned in those elections;
9. Welcoming the declaration adopted on 23 February 1987 by the European Community Foreign Ministers which shows concern and political will to act on the Middle East crisis, fully coinciding with our own views,
10. Calls upon the governments and parliaments of member states:
a. to give their support to the holding of an international Middle East peace conference, under United Nations Security Council auspices, thereby associating both superpowers as well as the European countries represented there with all the interested parties in the region;
b. to approach the IMF with a view to ensuring that the conditions set for a new stand-by agreement and the rescheduling of Egypt's debts take account of socio-political, as well as economic factors;
11. Intends:
a. to place relations with the Egyptian People's Assembly on a new basis, pragmatically inspired by those already existing with other non-European parliaments;
b. to maintain contacts with the interested parties in the Middle East, with the United States Congress and Administration and with the United Nations Secretary General with a view to promoting a just and lasting settlement of the conflicts there.