Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07CAIRO2511
2007-08-13 14:29:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Cairo
Cable title:  

AL GHAD PARTY WOES

Tags:  PGOV KDEM EG 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO8865
RR RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHKUK RUEHROV
DE RUEHEG #2511/01 2251429
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 131429Z AUG 07
FM AMEMBASSY CAIRO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6512
INFO RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE
RUEHEE/ARAB LEAGUE COLLECTIVE
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CAIRO 002511 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

NSC FOR SINGH AND WATERS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/13/2027
TAGS: PGOV KDEM EG
SUBJECT: AL GHAD PARTY WOES

REF: A. CAIRO 2350


B. 2005 CAIRO 8034

C. 2005 CAIRO 7325

Classified By: Minister-Counselor for Economic and Political Affairs
William R. Stewart, for reasons 1.4 (d).

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CAIRO 002511

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

NSC FOR SINGH AND WATERS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/13/2027
TAGS: PGOV KDEM EG
SUBJECT: AL GHAD PARTY WOES

REF: A. CAIRO 2350


B. 2005 CAIRO 8034

C. 2005 CAIRO 7325

Classified By: Minister-Counselor for Economic and Political Affairs
William R. Stewart, for reasons 1.4 (d).


1. (C) Summary: In a potential death-blow to Ayman Nour's
Ghad Party, on July 31 Egypt's Political Parties Committee
(PPC) ruled that Musa Mustafa Musa, an alleged
government-backed rival of Nour's, be named leader of the
party. This was the culmination of two years of legal
wrangling between Nour's Ghad Party, and the parallel Ghad
Party created by Musa following his expulsion from Nour's
organization in September 2005. On August 4, Ghad president
Ehab El Khouly and Gameela Ismail (one of Ghad's
vice-presidents and the wife of Ayman Nour) presented a
formal petition to the PPC, appealing the July 31 ruling.
The PPC is scheduled to review the appeal on August 20, but
observers agree it is highly unlikely that it will rule
against Musa. The PPC decision effectively neuters the Ghad
Party as an independent opposition organization, consigning
it to the already well-populated ranks of Egyptian puppet
political parties. End summary.


2. (SBU) Hours after the July 31 State Council Administrative
Court's denial of imprisoned Al Ghad Party leader Ayman
Nour's appeal for health-based parole (ref A),the Ghad Party
suffered a second blow when the National Democratic Party
dominated Political Parties Committee (PPC) ruled that Musa
Mustafa Musa be recognized as the legitimate leader of the
party. This was the culmination of two years of legal
wrangling between Nour's Ghad Party, and the parallel Ghad
Party created by Musa following his expulsion from the party
in September 2005 (refs B and C). The PPC's decision was a
follow-up to a June 28 ruling of the South Cairo Court of
First Instance that recognized Musa as the "legal president
of Al Ghad," and requested that the PPC therefore provide to
Musa the 300,000 LE (approximately 53,000 USD) financial
support annually paid to Egyptian political parties (Note:
The Nour wing of Ghad asserts that it has not received any
financial assistance from the PPC for the last three years.
End note).


3. (C) The South Cairo Court ruling was reportedly based on

the proceedings of an October 2005 general assembly meeting
of Musa's parallel Ghad Party, where Musa was elected
chairman. The court asserted that the October 2005 assembly
was "valid" and its proceedings "lawful." Following the June
28 ruling, Ghad president Ehab El Khouly sent a memo to PPC
chairman Safwat El Sherif asking him to contest the court's
decision, arguing that Musa was expelled from the Ghad Party
a month before calling for the general assembly, and that the
assembly was therefore "illegal and illegitimate." El Khouly
reportedly never received a reply from El Sherif. (Note: Ref
B details Nour's assessment of the October 2005 meeting
("financed by State Security" and populated by a "rented
crowd"),while ref C discusses the initial Musa putsch
against Nour, and the opinions of several Embassy contacts
that Musa was "firmly under the control of GOE elements." End
note).


4. (SBU) On August 4, Ehab El Khouly and Gameela Ismail (one
of Ghad's vice-presidents and the wife of Ayman Nour)
presented a formal petition to the PPC, appealing the July 31
ruling. The PPC is scheduled to review the appeal on August

20. Meanwhile, Musa asserted to journalists that such
efforts are "desperate moves," and appears confident that he
will prevail. Musa reportedly stated that he was originally
expelled from the party because of fears that he would expose
Ghad's "links with the U.S. administration." He told the Al
Ahram Weekly newspaper, "I am sure that in time people will
realize the truth, and differentiate between honorable
politicians and U.S. agents (an apparent reference to Ismail,
El Khouly, and Nour). They will realize who is behind the
smear campaign against me."


5. (SBU) On August 6, Musa filed a request with the Public
Prosecutor (Egypt's attorney general equivalent) asking for
approval to take over the Ghad Party's downtown Cairo
headquarters (which currently sports a "Free Ayman Nour"
banner). Musa reportedly intends to file complaints with the
Public Prosecutor against El Khouly and Ismail for being
members of an "outlawed organization." Several Egyptian
newspapers have reported that Musa announced that a party
conference will be held in September, and that, "our party
will not criticize any of the ruling party's policies unless
we have an alternative to present. We will not enter into
political blocs or fronts that do not correspond with the
party's objectives, and we have no problem with coordinating

CAIRO 00002511 002 OF 002


with the government, as the ruling party is not the enemy."


6. (C) Since July 31, poloff has repeatedly attempted to
contact Ismail, who has not responded to any of the numerous
phone calls and text messages. El Khouly told poloff that he
would prefer not to meet now, implying that such a meeting is
too sensitive given the current state of affairs. On August
12, poloff met with Ghad vice-president Wael Nawara, who
termed Ghad as "dead" and "effectively eviscerated by the
government." Nawara was not at all optimistic about efforts
to appeal the PPC's ruling, assessing that, "the government
took a decision (after the 2005 presidential elections) to
destroy Ayman Nour's Ghad Party, and they have been
successful." Nawara noted that in the past month, he has
been pushed by some Ghad supporters to start a new party, but
that, "I simply do not have the energy to do so, nor the hope
that the government would be any more open to allowing a new
party to operate." Nawara mused that he has invested in Al
Ghad for four years, "at great personal cost to my family and
my professional life. And there is nothing to show for it."


7. (SBU) From prison, Nour has reportedly called for his
supporters to form a new political movement called the "Free
Alternative," that would be, "twinned with the Ghad Party
.... The two will work together to free society from
corruption, oppression, and despotism." However, there seems
to be little appetite among Ghad members to embark on forming
such a new movement. Ghad president El Khouly told reporters
that Nour's suggestion has been rejected by members of the
party's higher committee, who prefer to concentrate their
efforts on winning back control of the Ghad Party.


8. (SBU) On August 12, independent newspaper Al Masry Al Yom
quoted Abdel Halim Qandeel, one of leaders of the Egyptian
political movement "Kefaya" (Enough),as saying that Kefaya
will not recognize the PPC decision or Musa's Ghad Party, and
that, "Kefaya does not know any Ghad Party other than that
headed by Ehab El Khouly." Musa has been roundly criticized
in Egypt's independent press, with an editorialist from Al
Masry Al Yom characterizing him as "the Judas of the Ghad
Party."


9. (C) Comment: The Political Parties Committee's decision
effectively neuters the Ghad Party as an independent
opposition organization, consigning it to the already
well-populated ranks of Egyptian puppet political parties.
We do not anticipate that the appeal of the Nour branch of
Ghad to the PPC will be successful. Rather, the outlook is
grim for Gameela Ismail, Ehab El Khouly, and their
supporters, who could plausibly face legal action if they
continue to operate in the name of the Ghad Party, in the
face of Musa's now legal control of the organization.
RICCIARDONE