Date: Fri, 7 Jun 2013 23:10:05 +0200
Kerry's Secret Gift to Egypt
Jun 7, 2013 4:21 PM EDT
Last month John Kerry quietly approved huge arms shipments to Egypt-despite
Cairo's ongoing violation of human rights. Josh Rogin reports.
While employees of American NGOs sat in Egyptian prisons, Secretary of State
John Kerry quietly waived the law that would prevent the U.S. from sending
the Egyptian military $1.3 billion worth of weapons this year.
Congress erupted in anger June 4, when Egyptian courts
<http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/04/world/africa/egypt-ngos> sentenced 43 NGO
workers, including 16 Americans, to jail terms of up to five years for
working in NGOs not registered with the government. Only one of those
Americans, the National Democratic Institute's Robert Becker, actually
stayed in Egypt to await the verdict. He was given two years in prison. The
other American organizations targeted included the International Republican
Institute and Freedom House. All of those organizations had been operating
in the open in Egypt for several years before the government raided their
offices and forced them to flee the country in December 2011.
But what most in Congress didn't know was that on May 10, Kerry had waived
the restrictions lawmakers had put in place to make sure that U.S. military
aid to Egypt wouldn't continue unless Egypt made progress on its path to
democracy, rule of law, and human rights. The State Department's
notification of Kerry's move, which was never released to the public,
<http://www.scribd.com/doc/146153409/051013-FMF-Egypt> was obtained by The
Daily Beast.
<http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PLAW-112publ74/pdf/PLAW-112publ74.pdf> The
law that allows the State Department to give Egypt $1.3 billion each year in
Foreign Military Financing (FMF) specifies that to get the money, the
secretary of State must certify that Egypt is honoring its peace treaty with
Israel as well as "supporting the transition to civilian government
including holding free and fair elections; implementing policies to protect
freedom of expression, association, and religion, and due process of law."
"Foreign funding of NGOs in Egypt is something that drives the Egyptian
military command crazy."
Several members of Congress said this week that Egypt's sentencing of
American NGO workers, who were there to help Egypt build up its civil
society and to promote democracy, flew in the face of that very law, meaning
that Egypt should not get the money.
"The unjust convictions of Egyptian and American citizens by the Egyptian
government, for nothing more than working to defend the fundamental rights
of all Egyptians, is appalling and offensive to people of goodwill in Egypt
and across the globe," said Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), who chairs the Senate
Appropriations Committee's state and foreign-ops subcommittee. "If Egypt
continues on this repressive path, it will be increasingly difficult for the
United States to support President Morsi's government."
"These politically motivated prosecutions of individuals doing nothing more
than attempting to assist Egypt as it moves down the path toward democracy
will only serve to undermine the progress that Egypt has made since 2011,"
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) said in a statement. "The court's order that several
of the organizations ... cease operations in Egypt also raises concerns
about how the United States and other countries can continue to assist Egypt
as it transitions from military rule, given that these are some of the
premier international organizations that focus on democratic training, the
building of civil society, and establishment of the rule of law."
Reps. Frank Wolf (R-VA) and Gerry Connolly (D-VA) are circulating a letter
in the House this week to Morsi threatening a cutoff of U.S. aid and asking
him to step in and reverse the policy of prosecuting foreign NGO workers.
"In order for the U.S. government and the American people to have any
confidence that the Egyptian government is undertaking a genuine transition
to a democratic state, under civilian control, where the freedoms of
assembly, association, religion and expression are guaranteed and rule of
law is upheld, we must see a swift and satisfactory resolution to this case
that takes into full account the concerns expressed in this letter,
including revisions to the proposed NGO law," reads the letter, a copy of
which was obtained by The Daily Beast.
The lawmakers said that there was no way the Obama administration would be
able to certify that Egypt was progressing toward democracy, given the jail
sentences. They didn't know that Kerry had already waived the law only weeks
prior. Experts following the issue were shocked that Kerry's team kept the
decision a secret, unlike last year, when then-secretary of State Hillary
Clinton
<http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/03/22/clinton_waives_restricti
ons_on_us_aid_to_egypt> also waived the law, but made sure to explain her
actions and include <http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2012/03/186709.htm> a
strong statement condemning the Egyptian government's treatment of foreign
NGOs.
This year Kerry didn't say anything publicly and didn't even tell many of
the congressional offices that care about the issue, said Stephen McInerney,
executive director of the Project on Middle East Democracy.
"It's very alarming that no public statement was made by the secretary or
the Department of State more broadly in conjunction with the waiving of
these conditions," he said. "The waiving of these conditions isn't something
that should be done lightly or quietly."
In response to questions from The Daily Beast, State Department Bureau of
Near Eastern Affairs spokesman Edgar Vasquez said Kerry waived the law based
on "national-security interests," because military assistance to Egypt
includes programs that help stop trafficking of illegal goods,
counterterrorism, and security in the region.
"To be sure, while Egypt has made some progress in its democratic
transition, we recognize that much more work remains," he said. "Concerns
remain about government actions or support for laws that would restrict
freedom of association, expression, and religion-universal rights which
Egypt has international obligations to uphold-and its willingness to promote
inclusive processes that respond to the aspirations of all Egyptians."
Vasquez also pointed to State Department statements expressing "deep
concern" over the guilty verdicts and sentences handed down by the Egyptian
courts this week. "We called it for what it was: a politically motivated
trial and a decision that runs contrary to the universal principle of
freedom of association and is incompatible with the transition to
democracy," he said.
Steven Cook, a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, said the Obama
administration is prioritizing its relationship with the Egyptian military
right now over the drive to promote democracy and human rights there.
"The NGO stuff is horrific, but we need to work with the Egyptian armed
forces," he said. "The administration's clearly made the judgment that now
is not the time to start messing with the FMF, that you need to reassure the
Egyptian military, which shares basic interests with the U.S."
But the Egyptian military was involved in the crackdown on the NGOs, and the
issues are linked, Cook said. The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces was in
power when the raids happened, and the leader at the time, Field Marshal
Mohamed Tantawi, was known to be close to Egyptian Minister of International
Cooperation Fayza Abul Naga, a holdover from the Mubarak era who played a
lead role in the raids and the prosecutions.
"Foreign funding of NGOs in Egypt is something that drives the Egyptian
military command crazy," said Cook. "They believe it's a national-security
threat to Egypt and that's how they are complicit in this. They want to shut
this all down."
Correction: Robert Becker works for the National Democratic Institute, not
the International Republican Institute.
Secretary of State John Kerry (left) shakes hands with Egyptian President
Mohamed Morsi during a visit to Cairo on March 3. (Jacquelyn
Martin/AFP/Getty)
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