Summer gossip
The US ambassador refutes claims that he was somehow behind rumours concerning the health of President Hosni Mubarak, reports Gamal Essam El-Din
US ambassador to Egypt Francis Ricciardone used a visit last Sunday to Alexandria to respond to recent press reports accusing him of being responsible for the plethora of rumours surrounding the health of President Hosni Mubarak. Speaking to the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt (AmCham) on corporate social responsibility, Ricciardone said he had been frustrated by the seemingly orchestrated press campaign claiming he had expressed concern about the president's health when meeting a group of American journalists early in August. "This is completely baseless; not the way we deal in Egypt," said Ricciardone. He added that the relations between Egypt and the US were based on mutual respect and transparency. "We are not playing games," said the US ambassador, "[yet] some circles and forces stood behind these rumours with the objective of undermining Egyptian-American relations."
Ricciardone attributed the proliferation of stories about President Mubarak's health to "summertime gossip".
"In America people like rumour-mongering while they are spending their summertime by the sea and I think something like this happened in Egypt this summer," he said. "One of the main responsibilities of democratic states is that there should always be well-established channels of communication between citizens on a regular basis and in a transparent way," he continued, suggesting that the stories could have been nipped in the bud if such channels had been in place.
Asked by Al-Ahram Weekly if the public perception of his role in kick-starting the stories reflected underlying tensions in Egyptian- American relations -- Mubarak has, after all, not visited Washington since 2004 -- he said that he could not "give an answer on behalf of President Mubarak and say why he has stopped visiting the US". "The President has an open invitation to visit the US and sometimes we remind him about his [once] annual US visit but we do not exert pressure in this respect."
Conceding that the US and Egyptian governments differed over some issues, including the case of Ayman Nour and the pace of democratisation in Egypt, Ricciardone said that while Washington believed "the pace of democratisation and political reform should be much faster and deeper, the final word should be left to Egyptians".
He suggested Egypt might draw on the democratic experiences of the US, Europe and Asia. "We have got professional institutes like the International Republican Institute and the National Democratic Institute [to help] in regulating parties under Egyptian law," said Ricciardone. But, he added, "if you feel you have experience enough in this respect, ok go ahead."
Ricciardone revealed that US President George Bush plans to host a conference on "democracy in the world" very soon in New York. "We believe strongly in democracy and this conference will emphasise that democracy is a cornerstone of our foreign policy," said Ricciardone, noting that "the US is not interested in imposing any kind of democracy on any country".
Ricciardone explained that the Bush administration has asked Congress for $415 million in economic assistance for Egypt in 2008. "Out of this amount Congress wants $50 million to be allocated to democratisation programmes."
"Even if this money is to be earmarked directly to civil society organisations it is still stipulated that it goes according to Egyptian law and without meddling in internal affairs," said Ricciardone.
He refuted any suggestion that American assistance was increasingly being allocated on a religious basis. All funding, he said, is allocated under the supervision of the Egyptian government and in line with development priorities. "If it happened that some US assistance money went to Upper Egyptian villages with a Coptic majority, it was just a coincidence."
Ricciardone praised the operation of the four- year-old QIZ (qualified industrial zones) agreement between Egypt, the US and Israel.
"In Port Said, Gharbiya and 10th of Ramadan city," he said, "I visited some of the 138 Egyptian companies that are taking advantage of the QIZ programme and in its first two years Egyptian apparel exports to the US increased 60 per cent, reaching more than $1 billion, much higher than the value of the annual US economic assistance to Egypt." This, he argued, shows that the US-Egyptian economic relations are increasingly becoming based on trade rather than aid.
Touching on the case of Ayman Nour, Ricciardone insisted, "the problem about this and some other Egyptian cases is that they have got international dimensions, not only in the US but also in Europe."
"As you know, some Congress members were very concerned about this issue although they do not know all the details about this case... Other Congress people had the courage to come to Egypt and explore facts by themselves."
"The US and Egypt face some differences over some issues but the fact remains that we manage to contain them through dialogue and mutual respect."
Asked if the US had exploited the case of Nour and others to pressure Egypt into sending troops to Iraq, Ricciardone emphasised that, "during two years of service here the US has never asked Cairo to send Egyptian forces to Iraq."
"Egypt is an old country with established institutions, strong central authority, courts and judges and a strong national texture," said Ricciardone. "Because of all these advantages Egypt is completely different from fragile countries like Iraq, Lebanon and Sudan... You are the rock of stability in this region, you do not have problems with your neighbours, including Israel, but in order for stability to remain you should stick with your friendship with the US," Ricciardone concluded.
Caption: Francis Ricciardone
C a p t i o n : Francis Ricciardone
Al-Ahram Weekly Online : Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2007/862/eg6.htm