Cashing in on the war on terrorism

In exchange for its support since Sept. 11, Egypt has received billions in international aid and diminished scrutiny of its human rights abuses.

By Issandr El Amrani

Feb 13, 2002 | As the war on terrorism expands beyond Afghanistan, United States coalition partners continue to reap the dividends. Some of that payback came last week, as the U.S. led the way for the international community to look past Egypt's record of human rights abuses and approve billions of dollars in new international aid for the country.

Last Wednesday in the Sinai resort of Sharm Al Sheikh a World Bank consultative group met to consider Egypt's request for $2.5 billion, which the country said it needed to weather an economic crisis accelerated by Sept. 11. Meanwhile, in Cairo, the fate of Saad Eddin Ibrahim, a prominent human rights activist who was given a seven-year sentence last May for accepting European Union funding for his election-monitoring activities, was decided in an appeals court. Both events' outcomes were more promising than expected: Egypt was pledged over $10 billion over three years, way over what it had asked for; Ibrahim was released pending a retrial, despite pessimistic predictions from a battered human rights community.

The fact that the Sharm Al Sheikh meeting took place on the same day as the Ibrahim appeal verdict led to claims in some diplomatic circles that the two events were linked. Before the verdict came out, a Western diplomat who has followed the case since its beginnings said, "I think they're going to grant the appeal so that the donors can save face. They can't get money and then leave him in jail."

Ibrahim's successful appeal does not mean that his name is cleared. Observers here believe he has personally offended Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who had earlier complained in Washington that "too much fuss" was being made over the issue. A retrial, which should take place in a few weeks, may even bring new charges (such as espionage, which was dropped in the earlier trial) against Ibrahim. Responding to suggestions that his release was the result of pressure by Western donors at Sharm Al Sheikh, he answered, "The Egyptian government does not respond to pressure, especially under President Mubarak."

Publicly at least, the United States has stopped mentioning sensitive human rights cases like Ibrahim's that could embarrass Mubarak's government. When asked recently about Egypt's lackluster record on human rights, U.S. Ambassador to Egypt David Welch simply said that Egypt was a friend of America's, and that "friends don't put pressure on friends."

Cynics would be right to point out that turning a blind eye to human rights abuses in allied countries is also a longstanding U.S. practice. Egypt, as President Bush and countless official American visitors to Cairo have stressed since Sept. 11, has been a valuable ally in the war against terror. Egyptian officials would hasten to add that it has rallied to America's side despite very ambivalent feelings on the Arab street, where U.S. support of Israel throughout the new intifada has earned it much resentment.

Mubarak has not been shy about reminding Western powers about the risks he has taken to crack down on Islamic militants. He often mentions publicly that he had originally suggested an international conference to tackle the issue of terrorism as early as 1994, when Egypt still faced a sizable militant Islamic movement in its rural south.

But Mubarak has also been eager to cash in on his cooperation. In 1991, his government began a program to restructure its entire economy. Back then, a collapsing centralized economy was brought to the brink of disaster through corruption and mismanagement. The fact that Egypt was not faced with an Argentina-like crisis was largely due to a $14 billion bailout granted because of its support of the Gulf War coalition.

In exchange for the cash it needed, Egypt promised to embark on economic reforms that would bring its system into line with free-market economic orthodoxy. In 1991, Egypt's biggest patron and most insistent advocate of economic reforms was the United States, which in the past few years has intensified its focus on liberalization by earmarking the majority of the aid Egypt receives toward growing the private sector -- a policy it calls "aid to trade."

Next Page: The impact of Sept. 11

• View blog reactions