VZCZCXYZ0006
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHEG #3426 3401548
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 061548Z DEC 07
FM AMEMBASSY CAIRO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7667
INFO RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC PRIORITY

UNCLAS CAIRO 003426 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA/ELA, NEA/PI 
NSC FOR SINGH AND WATERS 
DRL FOR CHEN 
USAID FOR ANE/MEA MCCLOUD AND RILEY 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAID KDEM PHUM PINR EG
SUBJECT: IBN KHALDUN CENTER PLANS NEW DEMOCRACY PROGRAMS 
DESPITE CHALLENGES 
 
REF: A. CAIRO 3166 
     ¶B. CAIRO 3283 
     ¶C. CAIRO 3341 
 
Sensitive but unclassified, not for Internet distribution. 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary: The Ibn Khaldun Center is moving forward 
with proposals for elections monitoring and other 
democracy-promotion programs next year, despite a staff 
reorganization forced by the absence of founder Saad Iddin 
Ibrahim and the threat of a lawsuit with potentially 
debilitating financial consequences.  End Summary. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) The Ibn Khaldun Center (IKC) completed $550,000 in 
MEPI-funded projects this year to promote political education 
and electoral rights in Egypt, including elections 
monitoring, democracy workshops, and other activities during 
the last two years.  The organization began discussing future 
proposals with us this summer even as founder Saad Iddin 
Ibrahim (SEI) said he feared returning to Egypt following his 
participation in international events including the Prague 
Conference on Democracy and Security, which President Bush 
addressed (ref A), and sharp criticism in the Egyptian press 
of SEI's published remarks on democratic reform. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) SEI now faces 13 lawsuits for "spreading false 
news" and trying to harm Egypt's economy by calling for cuts 
in U.S. assistance to Egypt (ref B), in addition to a recent 
lawsuit targeting both SEI and IKC, seeking LE 2 million 
(approximately USD 361,000) in damages from the center itself 
(ref C). 
 
¶4.  (SBU) In his absence, SEI designated his brother Ahmed 
Rizk as temporary director of the center.  Rizk has hired a 
retired banking executive to improve the center's financial 
oversight of its activities, while SEI's wife Barbara 
Ibrahim, an IKC board member and professor at the American 
University in Cairo, has increased her involvement with 
center activities. During the last three months, we have met 
frequently with Rizk, Ibrahim and Moheb Zaki, who has been 
responsible for IKC publications, to support IKC as it plans 
for the future. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) As a result, IKC recently submitted to USAID Cairo 
four concept papers briefly outlining plans for four proposed 
activities: monitoring local elections in 2008, $96,250; 
printing seven publications for one year, $50,000; monitoring 
Parliamentary performance of members of the People's 
Assembly, $52,000; and legal and judicial assistance, 
$100,000.  USAID is working with IKC to develop the first 
three of these proposals, while we are exploring other 
options for the fourth with DRL. 
 
¶6. (U) In addition, IKC is currently engaged in a $100,000, 
two-year Grassroots Democracy and Islam program with USAID 
which includes publication of fliers targeted to average 
Egyptians on topics such as the rights of women and 
minorities; plurality and tolerance; and the relationship 
between religion and the state. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) COMMENT: While the lawsuits against SEI complicate 
the work of the center and reinforce his own sense that it is 
not safe for him to return to Egypt, the lawsuit against IKC 
itself could debilitate the center financially and sidetrack 
its new plans for democracy promotion in Egypt.  Likewise, 
while the center has begun to right itself through staff 
reorganization during SEI's extended absence, we remain 
concerned that it has yet to build sufficient institutional 
capacity to meet the ambitions of its dynamic founder.  We 
will continue to work with the center to help it overcome 
these challenges. 
RICCIARDONE