September 30th, 2010 by Evan

Following President Barack Obama’s speech at the UN General Assembly on the importance of human rights and democratization, multiple commentators have called on the administration to reinforce its rhetoric by acting to support democracy in Egypt.

An editorial in the Washington Post advocated for the Feingold-McCain resolution, which calls on Egypt to allow international and domestic monitors to verify the results of the upcoming elections. “The demand for observers is a reasonable one. Monitors from the National Democratic Institute and International Republican Institute were present for Egypt’s 2005 elections; the chairs of those groups, Mr. McCain and former secretary of state Madeleine K. Albright have written to Mr. Mubarak offering their services for the November balloting. There has been no response.” Instead Egypt has launched an assiduous lobbying campaign to sink the resolution. The question, the editorial says, is whether President Obama will make good on his many verbal commitments to support democracy in Egypt.

Writing at Politico, Laura Rozen describes the growing sentiment in Egypt that Egyptian democracy will once again be forgotten. “Egyptian civil society activists complain the Obama team — like preceding U.S. administrations — has been too muted in its calls for greater democracy and human rights in Egypt. They say the U.S. has placed a greater priority on seeking Egypt’s help to advance fragile Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts, as well as Cairo’s lead role in reconciliation negotiations between rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas,” Rozen writes, citing statements from prominent Egyptian activists. While the administration responds that it has pushed Egypt on the use of the emergency law and other key issues, Robert Kagan, a scholar at the Brookings Institution and a co-founder of the Egypt Working Group, said that U.S. could be doing much more: “‘At various different times — think about the shah of Iran in the late 1970s — the critical thing is what does the U.S. do when there is a crucial turning point,’ Kagan said. ‘Egypt is in that condition now.’”

Posted in Democracy Promotion, Diplomacy, Egypt, Elections, Foreign Aid, Freedom |