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"It stifles all illusions about American support for democracy in this region," Qandil says about Obama's Cairo visit. |
CAIRO – While US President Barack Obama's decision to send his much-awaited message to the Muslim world from Cairo is a testimony of Egypt's position as a key Arab/Muslim heavyweight, many of the country's political activists and pro-democracy groups are dispirited.
"By his plan to come here, the American President is sending freedom fighters and political activists the world over many signals that are all frustrating," Abdel Halim Qandil, an Egyptian political activist, told IslamOnline.net.
"It stifles all illusions about American support for democracy in this region."
The White House has announced that Obama will visit Egypt on June 4 to deliver a long-awaited speech directed at the entire Muslim world as part of his efforts to improve strained ties with world Muslims.
In his speech, Obama is expected to talk about the common values and challenges facing both the US and the Muslim world.
The White House said Egypt was chosen due to its weight in the Muslim and Arab world and its efforts to reach a Middle East peace deal.
Egypt, the most populous Arab country, is home to Al-Azhar, the highest seat of learning in the Sunni Muslim world, and is one of America's closest allies in the region.
Obama delighted Muslims after seizing upon a visit to Turkey last month, his first visit to a Muslim country as president, to declare that his country was not in war with Islam.
Many Muslims saw the war on terror, unleashed by Obama's predecessor George Bush, was a war on Islam and Muslims worldwide.
Betrayed
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| "Other Muslim capitals competed with Cairo…but the Egyptian capital won thanks to its weight and its historical value," Badrawi told IOL. |
But as soon as the White House make the announcement, many political activists and pro-democracy groups in Egypt felt betrayed.
Qandil, the general coordinator of Kefaya (Enough), a nascent opposition group lobbying for democratic transformation in Egypt, expects more crackdowns on local activists.
He believes the regime of President Hosni Mubarak, who has been ruling Egypt for almost three decades, will exploit the full support of Obama and his new administration.
Critics say they are bracing for the worst to come in a country where the arrest of activists and the suppression of opposition is becoming a daily routine.
A recent report by the National Council for Human Rights - a government agency that tries to promote respect for human rights in Egypt - has criticized the government for its slow political reform, harassment of bloggers and journalists, and extraordinary arrest powers.
"The US will always continue to be the same: a country that cares only about its interests," fumes Qandil.
"It will continue to favor stability over anything else."
Despite all its economic problems, Obama's budget for fiscal year 2010 includes $1.3 billion in military aid for Egypt and $250 million in economic assistance, a 25 percent increase from the Bush administration's proposed economic aid package.
"Those who believe the illusion that the liberation of Egypt would come by a decision from the Oval Office are wrong. This would never happen," says Qandil.
President Mubarak initiated several political reforms in 2005 and 2006, reportedly under pressures from the Bush administration.
Egypt, which has known government for centuries even before other countries in the region, had its first competitive presidential polls in 2005 as a result of these reforms.
Reform became one of the main themes in the Arab world and the Middle East after the US launched its so-called Broader Middle East and North Africa initiative at a G8 summit in 2004.
But Washington stopped pressing its regional allies on the issue after feeling the need for their help to handle its Iraq quagmire.
Heart of Islam
Nonetheless, many believe Obama would not have picked a better venue to deliver his keynote speech.
"Egypt is a country that represents moderate Islam at its best level," Gamal Abdel Gawad, a political analyst from al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, a local think tank, told IOL.
"It’s not either Turkey where religion and state are two distinct things or Saudi Arabia where religion and state are one and the same thing."
The Egyptian government has quickly and warmly welcomed Obama’s visit, describing it as an important opportunity to deepen America's engagement with the Arab and Muslim world.
This inspired Egypt’s religious leaders to invite Obama to deliver his speech from Al-Azhar.
Officials in the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) have been pleased by the White House's announcement.
"Picking Egypt reflects the Obama administration's realization of the importance and the value of this country," MP Hossam Badrawi, the chairman of the NDP Education Committee, told IOL.
"Other Muslim capitals competed with Cairo to be the venue of Obama’s address, but the Egyptian capital won thanks to its weight and its historical value."
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