From sudaneseonline.com
U.S. Financed Groups Had Supporting Role in Arab Uprisings by Tarig Mohamed Mohamed-kheir Anter
By [unknown placeholder $article.art_field1$]
Apr 18, 2011 - 8:50:23 AM
U.S. Financed Groups Had Supporting Role in Arab
Uprisings; Written by Ron Nixon; Published: April 14, 2011; http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/15/world/15aid.html
Sent by: Tarig Mohamed Mohamed-kheir Anter; Khartoum; Tel.:
00249911636990
WASHINGTON � Even as the United States poured billions of dollars
into foreign military programs and anti-terrorism campaigns, a small core of
American government-financed organizations were promoting democracy in
authoritarian Arab states.
The money spent on these programs was minute compared with efforts
led by the Pentagon. But as American officials and others look back at the
uprisings of the Arab Spring, they are seeing that the United States�
democracy-building campaigns played a bigger role in fomenting protests than
was previously known, with key leaders of the movements having been trained by
the Americans in campaigning, organizing through new media tools and monitoring
elections.
A number of the groups and individuals directly involved in the
revolts and reforms sweeping the region, including the April 6 Youth Movement
in Egypt, the Bahrain Center for Human Rights and grass-roots activists like
Entsar Qadhi, a youth leader in Yemen, received training and financing from
groups like the International Republican Institute, the National Democratic
Institute and Freedom House, a nonprofit human rights organization based in
Washington, according to interviews in recent weeks and American diplomatic
cables obtained by WikiLeaks.
The work of these groups often provoked tensions between the
United States and many Middle Eastern leaders, who frequently complained that
their leadership was being undermined, according to the cables.
The Republican and Democratic institutes are loosely affiliated
with the Republican and Democratic Parties. They were created by Congress and
are financed through the National Endowment for Democracy, which was set up in
1983 to channel grants for promoting democracy in developing nations. The
National Endowment receives about $100 million annually from Congress. Freedom
House also gets the bulk of its money from the American government, mainly from
the State Department.
No one doubts that the Arab uprisings are home grown, rather than
resulting from �foreign influence,� as alleged by some Middle Eastern leaders.
�We didn�t fund them to start protests, but we did help support their
development of skills and networking,� said Stephen McInerney, executive
director of the Project on Middle East Democracy, a Washington-based advocacy
and research group. �That training did play a role in what ultimately happened,
but it was their revolution. We didn�t start it.�
Some Egyptian youth leaders attended a 2008 technology meeting in
New York, where they were taught to use social networking and mobile
technologies to promote democracy. Among those sponsoring the meeting were
Facebook, Google, MTV, Columbia Law School and the State Department. �We
learned how to organize and build coalitions,� said Bashem Fathy, a founder of
the youth movement that ultimately drove the Egyptian uprisings. Mr. Fathy, who
attended training with Freedom House, said, �This certainly helped during the
revolution.� Ms. Qadhi, the Yemeni youth activist, attended American training
sessions in Yemen. �It helped me very much because I used to think that change
only takes place by force and by weapons,� she said. But now, she said, it is
clear that results can be achieved with peaceful protests and other nonviolent
means.
But some members of the activist groups complained in interviews
that the United States was hypocritical for helping them at the same time that
it was supporting the governments they sought to change. �While we appreciated
the training we received through the NGOs sponsored by the U.S. government, and
it did help us in our struggles, we are also aware that the same government
also trained the state security investigative service, which was responsible
for the harassment and jailing of many of us,� said Mr. Fathy, the Egyptian
activist.
Interviews with officials of the nongovernmental groups and a
review of diplomatic cables obtained by WikiLeaks show that the democracy
programs were constant sources of tension between the United States and many
Arab governments. The cables, in particular, show how leaders in the Middle
East and North Africa viewed these groups with deep suspicion, and tried to
weaken them. Today the work of these groups is among the reasons that
governments in turmoil claim that Western meddling was behind the uprisings,
with some officials noting that leaders like Ms. Qadhi were trained and
financed by the United States.
Diplomatic cables report how American officials frequently assured
skeptical governments that the training was aimed at reform, not promoting
revolutions. Last year, for example, a few months before national elections in
Bahrain, officials there barred a representative of the National Democratic
Institute from entering the country.
In Bahrain, officials worried that the group�s political training
�disproportionately benefited the opposition,� according to a January 2010
cable.
In Yemen, where the United States has been spending millions on an
anti-terrorism program, officials complained that American efforts to promote
democracy amounted to �interference in internal Yemeni affairs.� But nowhere
was the opposition to the American groups stronger than in Egypt.
Egypt, whose government receives $1.5 billion annually in military
and economic aid from the United States, viewed efforts to promote political
change with deep suspicion, even outrage. Hosni Mubarak, then Egypt�s
president, was �deeply skeptical of the U.S. role in democracy promotion,� said
a diplomatic cable from the United States Embassy in Cairo dated Oct. 9, 2007.
At one time the United States financed political reform groups by
channeling money through the Egyptian government. But in 2005, under a Bush
administration initiative, local groups were given direct grants, much to the
chagrin of Egyptian officials. According to a September 2006 cable, Mahmoud
Nayel, an official with the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, complained to
American Embassy officials about the United States government�s �arrogant tactics
in promoting reform in Egypt.�
The main targets of the Egyptian complaints were the Republican
and Democratic institutes. Diplomatic cables show that Egyptian officials
complained that the United States was providing support for �illegal
organizations.� Gamal Mubarak, the former president�s son, is described in an
Oct. 20, 2008, cable as �irritable about direct U.S. democracy and governance
funding of Egyptian NGOs.� The Egyptian government even appealed to groups like
Freedom House to stop working with local political activists and human rights
groups. �They were constantly saying: �Why are you working with those groups,
they are nothing. All they have are slogans,� � said Sherif Mansour, an
Egyptian activist and a senior program officer for the Middle East and North
Africa at Freedom House.
When their appeals to the United States government failed, the
Egyptian authorities reacted by restricting the activities of the American
nonprofit organizations. Hotels that were to host training sessions were closed
for renovations. Staff members of the groups were followed, and local activists
were intimidated and jailed. State-owned newspapers accused activists of
receiving money from American intelligence agencies.
Affiliating themselves with the American organizations may have
tainted leaders within their own groups. According to one diplomatic cable,
leaders of the April 6 Youth Movement in Egypt told the American Embassy in
2009 that some members of the group had accused Ahmed Maher, a leader of the
January uprising, and other leaders of �treason� in a mock trial related to
their association with Freedom House, which more militant members of the
movement described as a �Zionist organization.� A prominent blogger, according
to a cable, threatened to post the information about the movement leaders�
links to Freedom House on his blog. There is no evidence that this ever
happened, and a later cable shows that the group ousted the members who were
complaining about Mr. Maher and other leaders. In the face of government
opposition, some groups moved their training sessions to friendlier countries
like Jordan or Morocco. They also sent activists to the United States for
training.
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