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Does America really value democracy in Egypt?

September 1, 2015 at 12:00 pm

On 18 August, John Kirby, a spokesman for the US Department of State, condemned the human rights violations that have been taking place in Egypt as part of its war on terrorism. Despite his condemnation, though, Kirby also emphasised that America will continue to stand by Egypt.

In furtherance of this, US Secretary of State John Kerry accepted an invitation to Cairo recently in order to search for a middle path that would enable Egypt to continue its war on terror while also preserving human rights. This requires a great deal of strategic thinking so that trust can be built between the government and the people.

America’s lacklustre approach to maintaining the peace in Egypt has shocked activists lobbying for human rights and democratic values; many have given up on their hope that the US will help to implement a more ideal version of democracy, which it has tried to spread across the world. This is not the first time that people have been disappointed at America’s stance on Egypt, because the entire region is currently caught up in the chaos of foreign interference in domestic affairs simply so that foreign policy agendas can be implemented. In fact, the US has not supported democracy in Egypt since its pro-revolutionary sentiments in 2011, when it stood with the will of the people.

Since then, every American attempt to enable the implementation Egypt’s nascent democracy has been a blow to public relations. Democracy is not, however, Washington’s primary concern; it has demonstrated time and again that it has no problem about relegating democratic values to second place in order to protect America’s interests and position in the world. Brett Stephens, an expert on Arab affairs and President Obama’s Middle East policy (Foreign Affairs, September-October 2015), put it succinctly when he described the US stance by saying that Americans value democracy and hold it dear but that it also instinctively threatens US interests in the region.

By taking the above factors into consideration perhaps we can identity the reasons for America’s current position on Egyptian events and why US national interests do not coincide with Egyptian democracy at the moment. The status quo does not reflect well on Obama or his administration; he has tried to implement the liberal values of the founding fathers and yet he failed to criticise the Mubarak regime in his famous 2009 speech, which prompted activists to protest in Cairo. Many human rights activists in Egypt view democracy as the inalienable right of everyone and mobilised themselves when the US president failed to criticise overtly the tyrannical nature of the Mubarak regime.

Egyptian journalist Abdel Halim Qandil emphasised later that one needs to understand that the US position on democracy in Egypt is not of Obama’s doing but belongs to his then Secretary of Defence, Robert Gates. Gates emerged from a meeting with Mubarak, saying that US aid to Egypt would not be enough of an incentive to improve its human rights situation.

The short-lived US honeymoon in support of democracy ended with the coup on 30 June 2013. Obama wasted many chances to help Egypt towards genuine democracy after the ouster of elected President Mohamed Morsi and the massacre in Rabaa Al-Adawiyya Square. We now know that what binds US-Egypt relations is hanging by a thread as the coup overlaps with the absence of democracy.

The US administration has long refused to call the military takeover in Egypt a coup because if it does it will have to suspend all economic and military support to the regime in Cairo. Nevertheless, there was a storm of protests from lobbyists and human rights activists in the US who were able to prevent the shipment of some military hardware to Egypt. Overall, though, there has been no change in policy. According to American journalist Paul Gitengeiger, the US shipped $150 million worth of arms and $170 million worth of Apache helicopters to Egypt in October 2014 alone.

Obama admitted recently that he is gravely embarrassed by his lack of support for democracy and the democratic process in Egypt. There is no need for any journalist to clarify or shed light on this issue because it is clear. Jen Psaki, Director of Communications at the US Department of State, said recently that it would not be possible for Washington to halt its economic support to Egypt given the depth and long-standing nature of US-Egypt relations. She expressed the US government’s belief that the ongoing political friction in Egypt will come to an end and that a civilian government will eventually be appointed. American interests in the Middle East have been largely focused on leading the coalition against ISIS, the violence in Yemen and, of course, reaching an agreement with Tehran on Iran’s nuclear programme. The question of democracy in Egypt is, therefore, at the bottom of the list of US priorities.

In February this year the ban on arms exports to Egypt was lifted following the formation of the Arab coalition against Houthi rebels in Yemen. Many law centres have shamed the US government for overlooking the basic principles of national security and the insistence by Congress that Egypt has to be classified as a democracy before receiving its share of US aid.

John Kerry submitted a request on 12 May last year asking for Congressional approval for Egypt to receive US aid in order to protect America’s interests in the region. Although Congress believes that the secretary of state’s request ignores the legislators’ basic requirements for foreign aid, some still believe that it is important for Egypt to remain Washington’s partner in the Middle East because it has a direct role to play in regional stability and maintaining peace with Israel. The government in Cairo is also almost always ready to participate in counter-terrorist operations when asked to do so by the US, as well as curb the proliferation of nuclear weapons, work towards supporting American military endeavours and ensure safe navigation in the Suez Canal.

No doubt Kerry’s letter will have relied on the old argument that Egypt has long been a democracy, and while there are very few good things to be said about the status quo in Egypt, the following points will have been emphasised in an effort to paint a better picture: despite its undemocratic ways the Egyptian administration has increased the number of women in parliament; protected the Copts and allowed them to build a church for their martyrs in Libya; improved the environment for international investments; and, finally, Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi was the first Egyptian president to visit the Christian community on one of its religious holidays.

It is clear that the geopolitical situation in the Middle East is threatening US interests in various ways but the placing of all bets on America’s potential to implement or influence democratic processes in this way is a lost bet in itself. Egypt will continue to be at the centre of this troubled region, but that does not mean that we should throw our hands up in despair because of the way that America chooses to commit to the values of democracy.

It is essential for the US to coach Egypt and lead it towards democracy through dialogue. More importantly, what is needed is for Egypt to humble itself for democracy. The war on terror requires many people to share power in the governmental system. For the successful Implementation of the American model in the Egyptian context, we need human rights organisations and lobbies to play a significant role in the dialogue between the US and Egypt by demanding the following:

1.       For Egypt to remove the Muslim Brotherhood from its list of terrorist organisations because the US, which has not hesitated in the past to label random organisations as “terrorists” has found no reason to place the movement on such a list.

2.       For America to commit to the implementation of the democratic process in Egypt and do what is necessary to promote a sense of understanding to build Egypt.

3.       For those who are concerned about the human rights situation in Egypt to play an active role in America’s role in the country’s development and work to influence the agenda at hand. Among the items on this agenda should be changes to the newly-adopted terrorism law in Egypt, which went beyond the UN definition of an act of terrorism being an action that causes death and serious injury to a state, individual or organisation, while also taking people hostage. By contrast, the Egyptian government has defined terrorism in a way that criminalises any opposition political action and makes it punishable by law.

Many lobbies responded to the above law by emphasising the need for concise principles when it comes to law-making in order to prevent misuse and for people to be fully aware of what constitutes a crime in the eyes of the state and the law. In short, this law requires re-drafting so that terrorism is defined according to the international definition.

There is no doubt that the intention behind launching such a law in Egypt was to eradicate the Muslim Brotherhood. Hence, it is negligent of America to promote democracy in Egypt only when it suits its own national security interests. We are right to ask if the US really values democracy in Egypt, or if it is just a convenient tool to use or discard when it suits Washington to do so.

The Egyptian government will not do anything that does not fulfil the terms of its peace agreement with Israel and its so-called war on terror. As such, we cannot call what is happening in this loose state “democracy” by any means. Having said that, those who are placing their bets on America’s success when it comes to this matter should not hold their breath, because US calculations ignore the legitimacy of Islamic movements and the sacrifices that they have made both before the coup and afterwards, particularly in Rabaa Al-Adawiyya Square.

Translated from Al Jazeera net, 23 August, 2015.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.