VZCZCXRO4904
RR RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHKUK RUEHROV
DE RUEHEG #2206/01 1981428
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 171428Z JUL 07
FM AMEMBASSY CAIRO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6162
INFO RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE
RUEHEE/ARAB LEAGUE COLLECTIVE
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 CAIRO 002206 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
FOR NEA A/S WELCH FROM AMBASSADOR RICCIARDONE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KDEM KPAO PGOV KMPI XF EG
SUBJECT: ADVANCING THE FREEDOM AGENDA IN EGYPT 
 
REF: A. STATE 88465 
     ¶B. CAIRO 153 
 
¶1.  Embassy Cairo continues forceful advocacy of the 
President's Freedom Agenda.  Per paras 11, 14, and 15 of ref 
A, it is standard Embassy Cairo practice, led by the 
Ambassador, to meet with democracy and human rights 
activists, oppositionists, and dissidents; to engage in 
public speaking opportunities and media outreach to promote 
democratic ideals and reform; and to use the full range of 
programmatic and diplomatic tools of our many mission 
agencies and sections to advance the Freedom Agenda.  MEPI 
and USAID's Democracy and Governance programs constitute 
critical components of our mission's efforts.  Our 
USAID-backed multi-disciplinary programming is detailed in 
separate democracy strategy papers that have been in 
circulation between Embassy Cairo and Washington for the past 
year. 
 
¶2.  We look forward to receiving information from NEA/FO 
regarding the status of the Forum for the Future (ref A, para 
16). 
 
¶3.  We have built the promotion of democracy into our 
internal mission management processes.  Each week, the 
Ambassador reviews democracy promotion and the Freedom Agenda 
with the country team.  Each fortnight, the DCM chairs the 
Institutions of Democracy Working Group (IDWG), which 
coordinates democracy policy and programs among USAID and the 
Embassy's Public Affairs and Economic-Political (ECPO) 
sections.  USAID also produces and disseminates to concerned 
USG addressees (via e-mail) a monthly summary of democracy 
program activities.  (USG readers not currently receiving 
this e-mail who wish to do so should contact 
(babrams@usaid.gov).)  At their orientation sessions with the 
Ambassador soon after their arrivals, new American members of 
the mission receive wallet cards to constantly remind them of 
our mission statement:  "We strengthen our partnership to 
secure peace, to build democracy, and to expand prosperity, 
to serve the American and Egyptian people." 
 
¶4.  Besides our work with civil society (examples below), our 
official engagement with the GOE, spanning various agencies 
and sectors, is a vital element of our strategy to promote 
democracy.  In particular, the Ambassador regularly raises 
both broad policy concerns and specific democracy and human 
rights cases with Egyptian leaders, including the President, 
the Prime Minister, the Foreign Minister, the Interior 
Minister and other top security officials, the Justice 
Minister, the Public Prosecutor, senior judges, and 
legislators. 
 
¶5.  Following are a few examples of our current and recent 
efforts to support and promote the Freedom Agenda: 
 
- The Ambassador's July 4 remarks, delivered to a reception 
attended by an estimated 4,000 key Egyptian contacts, cited 
President Bush's upholding of liberty and democracy as "the 
cornerstone of our foreign policy."  Per our standard 
practice, we invited a full range of leading dissident and 
oppositionist contacts, in full view of the media, state 
security, and our more mainstream establishment contacts. 
Attendees at the event included opposition Al Ghad Party 
president Ehab Al Khouly, the president and other leaders of 
the Al Wasat Party (an as yet unregistered opposition party), 
leaders of the newly registered National Democratic Front 
party, several parliamentarians, and numerous human rights 
and civil society leaders and MEPI program participants. 
 
- Over the past several months, the public affairs section 
has organized numerous media events focusing on the U.S. 
commitment to promoting democratic reform in Egypt.  Among 
these was the February 26 appearance of the Ambassador on a 
popular Egyptian call-in satellite talk show.  During the 
90-minute program, conducted entirely in Arabic, the 
Ambassador reaffirmed U.S. support for expanding rights in 
the realm of free expression, better governance, transparent 
election procedures, support for the release of the prisoner 
Ayman Nour, and the protection of the rights of religious 
minorities.  Other Embassy officers have also conducted 
interviews with the local media, including a June 22 live 
satellite TV show on which our PAO debated an anti-American 
opposition parliamentarian, and rebutted allegations of 
"unwarranted interference" by the USG in Egyptian politics. 
These two events alone reached millions of Egyptians. 
 
- The Ambassador hosted a July 11 roundtable of leading 
Egyptian print and broadcast commentators, which included a 
lively discussion of U.S. democracy promotion, and religious 
 
CAIRO 00002206  002 OF 003 
 
 
freedom issues.  The Ambassador regularly holds such 
roundtables with leading journalists and editors-in-chief of 
major Egyptian publications, including oppositionist critics, 
in an effort to reach out to opinion shapers. 
 
- The Ambassador will conduct the next in a series of 
webchats on July 18 on "Egypt-U.S. Bilateral Relations," 
through which we hope to continue to expand our engagement 
with a wide audience of web-savvy young Egyptians. 
 
- Embassy officers regularly meet with the range of Egyptian 
opposition parties, human rights advocates, civil society 
activists, political analysts, and others to discuss with 
them U.S. policies and garner their reactions and thoughts on 
the Egyptian political scene. 
 
- Embassy officers are continuously involved in recruiting 
for and funding small grants projects through MEPI and our 
in-house Institutions of Democracy Working Group. Some 
examples of recent programs including training young lawyers 
on human rights and democratic principles, training for 
elections monitors, and anti-corruption grants 
 
- The Ambassador and other Embassy officers regularly meet 
with leading civil society activists and liberal 
intellectuals such as Saad Eddin Ibrahim, Osama al Ghazali 
Harb, Tarek Heggy, Hisham Qassem, Ghada Shabandar, Hala 
Mustafa, and Bahia Al Din Ibrachy.  We also meet leading 
activist bloggers; Issandr El-Amrani (arabist.net) has twice 
been a guest in the Ambassador's residence. 
 
- On June 17, the Embassy's Regional English Language Office 
hosted Debra Lee, author of "American Legal English," and 
creator of the "Language 4 Law" website.  Dr. Lee offered 
presentations on American legal English to several Cairo 
human rights NGO's, Egyptian judges, and the law faculty of 
Mansoura University. 
 
- The Embassy and USAID sponsored a June research visit on 
Trafficking in Persons (TIP) issues from an expert team from 
Chemonics.  During the visit, the team, with Embassy 
assistance, conducted seminars with Egyptian NGO's and 
journalists interested in combating TIP. 
 
- In May, as part of an effort to promote World Press Freedom 
Day, Embassy Cairo conducted internet training for 15 
journalists from Nahdet Misr, Egypt's first independent 
newspaper. 
 
- On March 22, the Ambassador again called on Boutros Boutros 
Ghali, head of the National Council on Human Rights, to 
discuss a range of human rights issues. 
 
- On March 18 the Ambassador participated in a board meeting 
and an expanded membership meeting at the Ibn Khaldun Center, 
a leading Egyptian civil society organization run by Dr. Saad 
Eddin Ibrahim, on the occasion of the anniversary of the 
release of Ibrahim from prison.  Other Embassy officers 
occasionally participate in other IKC events. 
 
- On March 14, as part of Embassy Cairo's celebration of 
Women's History Month, the public affairs section arranged a 
program for Susan Stroud, executive director of the 
Washington based "Innovations in Civic Participation." 
Stroud spoke at an Egyptian NGO to a group of 40 youth from 
various non-governmental and governmental offices involved in 
community development. 
 
- On March 7, the Ambassador visited the headquarters of Al 
Wafd party (Egypt's oldest political party, and current 
leading opposition party).  He met with twenty members of the 
leadership of the party, discussing U.S. foreign policy, 
including democracy promotion. 
 
- In April and May, the Ambassador worked with the Speaker of 
the People's Assembly to arrange the first U.S. Congressional 
(and U.S. diplomatic) contacts in six years with the full 
range of Parliamentary membership, including the leader of 
the largest self-claimed "democratic" opposition bloc, the 
Muslim Brotherhood "independents." 
 
- As reported in ref B, on January 17 the Ambassador met with 
Gameela Ismail, the wife of imprisoned Al Ghad Party leader 
Ayman Nour.  Poloff is in close and regular communication 
with Ismail, and others in the Ghad leadership.  Ismail has 
not yet accepted the Ambassador's oft-repeated standing 
invitation for another meeting, evidently out of concern that 
another meeting with the Ambassador could have negative 
ramifications on the legal efforts to get her husband 
 
CAIRO 00002206  003 OF 003 
 
 
released on health parole.  We consult most closely with 
Ismail, in particular, on how official USG statements, 
including by the Ambassador, can best support her legal 
strategy in support of Ayman Nour's release.  An Embassy 
oficer is present at nearly all hearings in Nour's case. 
This recently drew an explicit objection from the prosecutor, 
whom the judge promptly over-ruled. 
 
- On January 14-15, the Embassy sponsored the visit to Egypt 
of renowned author and Harvard University Public Policy 
Professor Robert Putnam, to discuss with Egyptians the recent 
Arabic translation (funded by the Embassy) of his book 
"Making Democracy Work."  In Alexandria, Putnam addressed a 
large audience of academics, students and journalists at the 
Bibliotheca Alexandrina, regarding the role of social capital 
in promoting and enhancing democracy.  In Cairo, Putnam led a 
roundtable discussion with researchers and journalists at the 
Al Ahram Center for Strategic and Political Studies, and held 
a lunch with several leading Egyptian journalists and 
intellectuals. 
 
- The public affairs section has supported numerous civic 
education activities, such as NGO headed by a former 
government education official which trained hundreds of 
teachers from public schools.  We also supported the media 
component of "Project Citizen," an extracurricular activity 
project undertaken by the California-based Center for Civic 
Education, aimed at fostering leadership and tolerance among 
school children. 
 
- The Embassy continues to send dozens of journalists and 
civic activists to the U.S. to experience various facets of 
American democracy under the International Visitor Program. 
RICCIARDONE