CAIRO: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with twenty politicians and activists on Tuesday to discuss the current political situation and the future of democracy in Egypt. At the meeting, activists suggested the US waive Egypt's debt and support similar requests to drop Egypt's debt to European countries. The meeting was attended by politicians including Head of the Democratic Front Party Osama El-Ghazaly Harb, Al-Ghad Party's Secretary General Wael Nawara, political activist Gamila Ismail, Head of the Cairo Center for Human Rights Studies Bahei El-Din Hassan, Head of Egyptian Organization for Human Rights Hafez Abo Seada and the Head of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights Hossam Bahgat. The meeting was also attended by youth activists including Esraa Abdel Fattah, Asmaa Mahfouz, Bassem Fathy and Abdel Rahman Samir. Gamila Ismail told Daily News Egypt that along with other activists urged Clinton to apologize for the US's "hesitant and unjustified position" towards the revolution. "The US stance was more supportive to Mubarak, and I was hoping to listen to the US statement supporting the revolution when it started, not when the revolution led to Mubarak's ouster." Ismail said that Clinton told her that "the US tried from the beginning not to interfere in Egypt's internal issues, and our situation from the beginning was neither welcomed by the revolutionaries nor by the regime." Ismail said that they asked Clinton to help Egypt economically in the coming period, confirming that Clinton promised to exert her efforts to drop the debt and financial aid. Bahei El-Din Hassan told Daily News Egypt that Clinton wanted to hear from them more than to speak, and that she is looking forward to an open exchange of ideas about certain issues. Hassan said that the attendees heavily criticized the US stance towards the revolution, confirming that she said, "we cannot claim that the US is acting correctly all the time, because no country does so, but I think we acted very moderately." Hassan said that the participants expressed their optimism about democracy in Egypt, but were concerned about "the army's unilateral decision-making policy without involving societal participation". Hassan said that they expressed concern over an "Islamists takeover" of parliament if legislative elections are held soon, adding that Clinton did not comment on this point.
