Und Gaddafi stand Mubarak bei der Unterdrückung islamistischer Bedrohungen des ägyptischen Regimes eifrig zur Seite. Im Gegensatz zum Nachbarland Sudan, wo destabilisierende Kräfte und Radikale wie der Al-Kaida-Drahtzieher Ayman al-Zawahiri Unterschlupf fanden, übergab Libyen solche Personen an Mubarak.
In fact, Mubarak’s Libya policy was driven largely by economic and security concerns, and rarely took US interests into consideration. More than one million Egyptians worked in Libya, which was also a large export market. And Qaddafi was eager to help Mubarak subdue Islamist threats to the Egyptian regime. Unlike neighboring Sudan, which harbored Egyptian radicals, like al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, who were bent on destabilizing the country, Libya turned them over to Mubarak.