Egypt Suspicious Of U.S. Meddling In Transition To Democracy [View All]

Egyptions are wary that US financial aid to government and civil society programs is Washington's way of whitewashing its past support for Mubarak – and laying the groundwork for future meddling.

CAIRO - As Egypt prepares for its first free and fair parliamentary elections in decades, the United States is keen to play a role in -- and help finance -- the transition to democracy. But some Egyptians are growing increasingly critical of such open American support for building political parties and civil society.

“There are development partners that have for some time now been pushing the democracy and human rights agenda,” says Talaat Abdel Malek, an advisor to the Ministry of International Cooperation, which overseas foreign aid. “And I understand the need for it, but there comes a point when there is something that is called national sovereignty that has to be respected.”

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is leading the campaign. It recently gave about 40 percent of its $155 million aid budget for Egypt to so-called “democracy and governance” programs. Part of the money money will go directly to Egyptian civil society groups, while the rest will be delivered to US democracy-promotion organizations.

The program for political parties includes training sessions covering topics like political messaging, volunteer recruitment, the use of polling data, and political mobilization.

Read more: http://worldcrunch.com/egypt-suspicious-us-meddling-transition-democracy/3420