The NGO crisis between Egypt and the US is heating up, writes Ezzat Ibrahim from Washington After weeks of speculation and horse-trading, the crisis between Cairo and Washington over investigations into Egyptian and US-affiliated NGOs for meddling in Egypt's internal affairs and receiving foreign funds without permission is intensifying. Especially contentious is a judge's decision to ban the defendants from leaving the country, including Sam Lahoud, the son of the US secretary of transportation. According to US sources, the State Department and Congress previously asked the Egyptian authorities to intervene to defuse a potential crisis that could jeopardise strategic relations, but the Egyptian government has insisted that the case is a "judicial" not a "political" matter. Egyptian prosecutors carried out 17 raids targeting the offices of 10 organisations, including the US-based Freedom House, the National Democratic Institute and the International Republican Institute. In an attempt to stem the crisis, Army General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will travel to Egypt soon to press for the criminal charges against at least 16 Americans to be dropped. The spokesperson of General Dempsey tried to ease tensions saying that the visit will be about "consulting with friends". "He is not delivering ultimatums." A report of McClatchy Newspapers Service noted that "the long US-Egyptian military relationship has been transformed since the ouster of former president Hosni Mubarak last year, with Egyptian generals seemingly willing to risk American funding to prove to the public that Egypt's days as a puppet state are over." This message is resonating across political circles in Washington and put a curb on any rash measures to break with Egypt as an ally in the Arab world. Meanwhile, the State Department sent assistant legal adviser Linda Jacobson to Cairo. "She's been sent to reinforce our embassy in the legal support that we are able to give these individuals and the affected organisations," Victoria Nuland, State Department spokeswoman, said. The US administration insists that the Egyptian action against NGOs is meant to harm civil society. "Our view is that groups like the National Democratic Institute, the International Republican Institute, Freedom House, the other foreign NGOs, and the Egyptian NGOs that support democracy in Egypt, play a very valuable role in this transition process, and have done nothing wrong. These groups and the individuals associated with them do not fund political parties or individual candidates. Many of these groups have worked in Egypt for many years, supported by the US government, in order to promote democracy and free elections. There's nothing new in their activities. In fact, they also served as witnesses in the recent parliamentary elections with the authorisation of the government of Egypt," Nuland said. It is believed that 16 Americans among 40 defendants received a referral to trial yesterday. Current talks in Washington between US officials and Egyptian diplomats are directed towards finding a way to avoid a further deterioration in bilateral relations. "We are conducting high-level contacts with both State Department and National Security Council officials," Sameh Soukry, the Egyptian ambassador to the United States, told Al-Ahram Weekly. "Both value, and show the eagerness to preserve, our bilateral relations," he added. The ambassador echoed the same argument offered in Cairo: "it is a judicial matter related to Egyptian law, and any trial would be guaranteed to be fair for all defendants." Earlier this week, a delegation of the Egyptian military was in Washington for a routine visit but its members faced a critical reception. The military team left the US capital early after holding some meetings in the State Department and Pentagon but before meeting senior members of Congress. The prosecution of US citizens in Cairo has caused a flurry of reactions in Congress, with some members calling for bilateral relations to be reconsidered. Democratic Senator Ben Cardin, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said that Washington should "re- evaluate" the relationship, and that it was "totally unacceptable" for Egypt to prosecute Americans on charges of receiving illegal funding. Senator Lindsey Graham, a close friend to Egypt who was supposed to meet the delegation on Monday, echoed the feeling of legislators towards the situation, noting that it is now "virtually impossible" to maintain any support for Egypt in the US Congress and that any deepening of the crisis would provoke "a backlash in America". In remarks to Politico newspaper, the senior senator said, "We are in a very tenuous moment." Meanwhile, Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye refused suggestions that the Egyptian military is powerless to do anything. "Come on, it's under military rule," Inouye told Politico. Following the cancellation of meetings between the military council delegation and senior members in the senate, Graham came out with a warning to the Egyptian government, saying there are two red lines: the detention of US and foreign citizens, and the need for more transparency on the part of the Egyptian government as it moves towards promised democratic reforms. Congress could translate its verbal warnings into legislative measures by halting or terminating US military and economic assistance to Egypt. At present, the State Department is authorised by Congress to issue a certification allowing Egypt to get the aid instalments in due time, since US lawmakers late last year put conditions on aid for the first time. Nonetheless, it is widely believed in Washington that Congress could go ahead and cut or suspend assistance since this could harm US national interests in the long-term. Alternately, American officials have suggested that for Egypt to continue legal procedures against US citizens would lead to reluctance on the part of the United States to support any Egyptian efforts to get loans and grants from both the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. Such step would complicate the Egyptian government's push to stabilise the economy through new financial channels. The US administration promised to support Egypt in this move, using its heavy influence on the global stage. Questioned on what might happen if Egyptian authorities continue to deflect US concerns, Nuland said: "I'm not going to get into speculating what may or may not be possible in this relationship if we can't move forward. But the secretary [of state] has made it very clear, and we -- and everybody who has talked to the Egyptians privately -- have made it clear, that this is a very, very difficult situation in terms of the support that we want to provide to Egypt." Sherif Mansour, senior programme officer for Middle East and North Africa at Freedom House, and one of the defendants, pointed to Fayza Abul-Naga, Egyptian minister of planning and international cooperation, as being the one behind the current crisis. "The political motivations and vindictive nature behind these accusations are overwhelmingly clear. The case against me, as well as the other NGO workers, was initiated by the only senior official from Mubarak's cabinet to remain in power. The investigation is part of a wider crackdown on Egyptian civil society that has taken place over the past six months," he wrote in an article published by Foreign Policy website. Senator Patrick Leahy, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee on the State Department and Foreign Operations, and the architect of the new conditions on US military aid to Egypt, referred to Abul-Naga in a strong statement last week. "The conduct of the raids, seizure of the files and computers, interrogation of the employees, and the no-fly order have not been conducted consistent with legal standards but instead seem to be politically motivated. No warrants have been issued, no charging documents made public, and no inventory of seized property made available. Many suspect that the force behind this crackdown is Minister of International Cooperation Fayza Abul-Naga," Leahy said.
