The Looming Divorce of Egypt and U.S. foreign assistance

First there were the raids. Then the travel bans. Now the trials.

Just over a year ago to date, with the 20th anniversaries celebrations of the fall of communist regimes in Europe still a recent memory, the world shifted its attention to the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), where uprisings rocked the region and overthrew long-time strong-arm leaders and dictators. It looked like another 1989. But as the transition continues in many of these countries (and the slaughter continues in Syria), the Egyptian government is moving further from the democratic goals of the revolution.

As the military tightens its control on Egypt, they have ignored the protests that continue in-country, resulting in deaths as recently as last Thursday at a soccer match, and have attempted to shift the blame onto NGOs that receive foreign funding. After raiding the offices of 17 pro-democracy NGOs in December, Egypt has enforced a travel ban that affects aid workers affiliated with foreign civil society building NGOs, including the National Democratic Institute (NDI), the International Republican Institute (IRI), the International Centre for Journalists, Freedom House, and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. Those affected are citizens of the USA (19), Germany (2), Serbia (3), Lebanon (2), Norway (1), Palestine (1), Jordan (1), and local Egyptians (14). On February 5, the Egyptian government referred these 43 aid workers to trial.

Egypt claims these organizations, which did not receive official licenses from their government (despite repeated applications), are serving the purposes of foreign agendas to influence Egypt's elections and transition. In response, the U.S. has threatened to withdraw all aid from the country. However, perhaps this threat will not result in the effect intended; indeed, the Egyptian public tends to show an inherent distrust of U.S. funding. 74% of survey respondents in Egypt answered that they are not in support of U.S. direct funding of NGOs in the country; the survey was conducted December 16-23, prior to the NGO raids. 68% were in favor of aid from other Arab countries.

This begs to question, has anything changed in Egyptian politics since Mubarak was ousted? Observers have commented that though the top names may have changed, the repressive actions that defined his reign continue.


Additional Reading:

Steven A. Cook, Council on Foreign Relations: "Egypt and the United States: It’s Not You, It’s Me" (6 Feb. 2012)

The Spiegel: "Unwanted Guests: German Foundations In Crosshairs Abroad" (7 Feb. 2012)

Jenny Lei Ravelo, Devex: "Noose Tightening on U.S. Aid to Egypt" (7 Feb. 2012)