Last week, the Appropriations Committee in the US Congress decided to cut funding for Egypt’s democratisation programme. This move reflects Washington’s apparent shift towards easing pressure on Egypt’s ruling regime when it comes to promoting democracy and supporting freedoms—or at least, that is how some see it.
The committee deducted $5 million from the $25 million initially requested by the US administration for the 2011 financial year, reducing the final approved amount to just $20 million. This money is supposedly allocated for the promotion of freedoms and democratic support.
Meanwhile, Adli Hussein, governor of Qalyubia, described a bill proposed by John McCain—former US presidential candidate and a member of Congress—on supporting democracy in Egypt as ‘suspicious’. Hussein claimed the bill aimed to destabilise Egypt’s national security and create rifts between the country and its partners on local, regional, Arab, and Islamic levels. The bill, he argued, framed Egypt as a matter of US national security, which he dismissed as an act of deceit, manipulation, and utter nonsense that undermined Egypt’s sovereignty. His comments were widely reported in local newspapers.
It is well known that US aid to Egypt has reached its lowest level since the Camp David Accords, now standing at a mere $250 million. A sum of this scale is insignificant in an economy the size of Egypt’s, particularly amid both global and domestic inflation. It is unclear why the Egyptian government continues to accept such relatively useless aid. In fact, the majority of this funding ultimately flows back to the US, covering the excessively high salaries of aid programme staff—most of whom must be American—as well as the imported goods and equipment stipulated by the donors. Not to mention spare parts, which place additional strain on Egypt’s trade balance.
As for political interference, the less said, the better. The US routinely claims that it does not meddle in Egypt’s internal affairs. To the ordinary citizen, this might appear to be the case—after all, the public will never know what takes place behind closed doors in high-level meetings. However, even a casual news reader can easily recognise the pressure Washington exerts on Egypt regarding local and regional matters, often through nothing more than a strategic media statement here or there—part of a broader system of indirect interference in Egyptian decision-making through the calculated tactics of American media diplomacy.
A total of $250 million, of which only $20 million (the price of a luxury car) is earmarked for ‘democracy support’, places Egyptian governance and sovereignty under the scrutiny of a foreign power with clear ambitions in the region. Is this not an absurd political charade?
What kind of democracy does the US intend to promote in Egypt with this, frankly, laughable sum—especially after slashing it by another $5 million, as if to say: ‘No, this is just fine as it is!’
Yes, Egypt is in desperate need of democracy, of breathing life back into its long-neglected political body, left abandoned in the intensive care unit for decades, deprived of attention in a rundown public hospital. But no amount of foreign funding—not even multiplied a hundredfold—can provide the cure. The remedy must come from within. Enough of this self-inflicted humiliation.
The annual farce of USAID resembles nothing more than a poor man from one of Cairo’s tin-roofed slums who is handed a ration card and told he can claim a full combo meal from McDonald’s once a year. The man accepts, eager for a break from his daily diet of foul and taameya. But when he arrives, the American fast-food worker hands him a takeaway bag with a smile and a kiss on the cheek—before casually informing him: ‘No fries this year, habibi!’
This article is originally published by AlBorsa in Arabic and later AI-translated by South Push.