CAN HELP FROM AMERICA BE MISUNDERSTOOD?U.S. offers aid for Egyptian democra

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U.S. offers aid for Egyptian democracy, but quietly
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CAIRO - For years the United States tried to offer democracy-building help here but was thwarted by an Egyptian government that was committed to the opposite.

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Egyptians celebrate but keep protesting in Cairo
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U.S. offers aid for Egyptian democracy, but quietly

Now that the old prohibitions have been swept away by revolution, Egyptians are desperate to build their own democracy, and quickly.

The United States has expertise to offer and money to help, but it must proceed more carefully than ever among a people wary of U.S. intentions.

"Help from America can be misunderstood," said Tarek el-Malt, a spokesman for the al- Wasat political party, which has no real headquarters, no way to reach voters and no plans to ask for U.S. assistance.

A high-powered delegation of U.S. officials visited Cairo last week to find ways to support the revolution.

They, along with diplomatic and development officials, have been working quietly, meeting with citizens, activists and the leadership, and asking how best to spend the $150 million that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has said would soon be available to help shore up the economy and provide technical assistance in the move toward democracy.

By the time the U.S. delegation had departed last week, no Egyptian pro-democracy organizations had asked for assistance.

Egyptians are deeply ambivalent about help from America.

State-run media has encouraged anti-foreign feelings, and most U.S. aid in the past has gone to the military, which many Egyptians have interpreted as unambivalent U.S. support for a regime that oppressed them.

In an Internet exchange with Clinton on Feb. 23, Egyptian young people asked hard questions about U.S. support for the regime at the expense of the people.

"We consistently spoke out for democracy," she argued, suggesting that many of those conversations were in private.

A history of influence

American organizations, among them the International Republican Institute and the National Democratic Institute, have worked here for years, despite the determined opposition of the Egyptian government.

Both say the relationships they have built will make civic groups receptive to their offers of political expertise, such as training parties on honing a message and observers on monitoring elections.

Neither organization has ever been granted official permission to operate here, even though they have been asking the Egyptian government since 2006.

Feeling stymied, IRI circumvented the barrier over the past few years by taking aspiring politicians and activists, now numbering 1,000, to training seminars in nearby countries or organizing tours for them to the United States.

Participants were invariably punished for participating, pilloried in the media through campaigns organized by the government.

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Last year, IRI invited promising candidates for parliament to its sessions.

The elections turned out as rigged as ever and almost none of them got on the ballot.

NDI worked quietly inside the country, connecting with civic groups and offering them basic information, such as manuals on how to run a political campaign.

Secret police were - and still are - posted outside the NDI office.

Staff members have been regularly called in for interrogation and telephoned, threateningly, at home and late at night.

Long newspaper articles derided them as insincere democrats, here to make money and corrupt the youth.

Brian Andrew, March 4 2011, 3:09 PM

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