IBN KHALDUN CENTER PLANS NEW DEMOCRACY PROGRAMS

UNCLAS CAIRO 003426 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR NEA/ELA, NEA/PI NSC FOR SINGH AND WATERS DRL FOR CHEN USAID FOR ANE/MEA MCCLOUD AND RILEY E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EAID KDEM PHUM PINR EG SUBJECT: IBN KHALDUN CENTER PLANS NEW DEMOCRACY PROGRAMS DESPITE CHALLENGES REF: A. CAIRO 3166 ¶B. CAIRO 3283 ¶C. CAIRO 3341 Sensitive but unclassified, not for Internet distribution. ¶1. (SBU) Summary: The Ibn Khaldun Center is moving forward with proposals for elections monitoring and other democracy-promotion programs next year, despite a staff reorganization forced by the absence of founder Saad Iddin Ibrahim and the threat of a lawsuit with potentially debilitating financial consequences. End Summary. ¶2. (SBU) The Ibn Khaldun Center (IKC) completed $550,000 in MEPI-funded projects this year to promote political education and electoral rights in Egypt, including elections monitoring, democracy workshops, and other activities during the last two years. The organization began discussing future proposals with us this summer even as founder Saad Iddin Ibrahim (SEI) said he feared returning to Egypt following his participation in international events including the Prague Conference on Democracy and Security, which President Bush addressed (ref A),and sharp criticism in the Egyptian press of SEI's published remarks on democratic reform. ¶3. (SBU) SEI now faces 13 lawsuits for "spreading false news" and trying to harm Egypt's economy by calling for cuts in U.S. assistance to Egypt (ref B),in addition to a recent lawsuit targeting both SEI and IKC, seeking LE 2 million (approximately USD 361,000) in damages from the center itself (ref C). ¶4. (SBU) In his absence, SEI designated his brother Ahmed Rizk as temporary director of the center. Rizk has hired a retired banking executive to improve the center's financial oversight of its activities, while SEI's wife Barbara Ibrahim, an IKC board member and professor at the American University in Cairo, has increased her involvement with center activities. During the last three months, we have met frequently with Rizk, Ibrahim and Moheb Zaki, who has been responsible for IKC publications, to support IKC as it plans for the future. ¶5. (SBU) As a result, IKC recently submitted to USAID Cairo four concept papers briefly outlining plans for four proposed activities: monitoring local elections in 2008, $96,250; printing seven publications for one year, $50,000; monitoring Parliamentary performance of members of the People's Assembly, $52,000; and legal and judicial assistance, $100,000. USAID is working with IKC to develop the first three of these proposals, while we are exploring other options for the fourth with DRL. ¶6. (U) In addition, IKC is currently engaged in a $100,000, two-year Grassroots Democracy and Islam program with USAID which includes publication of fliers targeted to average Egyptians on topics such as the rights of women and minorities; plurality and tolerance; and the relationship between religion and the state. ¶7. (SBU) COMMENT: While the lawsuits against SEI complicate the work of the center and reinforce his own sense that it is not safe for him to return to Egypt, the lawsuit against IKC itself could debilitate the center financially and sidetrack its new plans for democracy promotion in Egypt. Likewise, while the center has begun to right itself through staff reorganization during SEI's extended absence, we remain concerned that it has yet to build sufficient institutional capacity to meet the ambitions of its dynamic founder. We will continue to work with the center to help it overcome these challenges. RICCIARDONE