Condoleezza Rice urges Egypt to hold free polls
Pakistan Times Foreign Desk Report

SHARM EL-SHEIKH (Egypt): US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Monday reiterated her call for free and competitive elections in Egypt after a meeting with President Hosni Mubarak.

The Secretary made a major pitch for democratic reforms in the Middle East but got a dose of Muslim anger on the latest leg of a whirlwind regional tour.

Rice told conservative Arab leaders on Monday the United States would no longer tolerate oppression in the name of stability, putting allies Egypt and Saudi Arabia on notice as well as familiar targets Iran and Syria.

"We are supporting the democratic aspirations of all people," Rice told 600 scholars and students at the American University in Cairo in the keynote address of her six-day swing.

"Throughout the Middle East, the fear of free choices can no longer justify the denial of liberty," she said. "It is time to abandon the excuses that are made to avoid the hard work of democracy."

Theme of Bush

She echoed a key theme of US President George W. Bush's second term, that global democracy was the best antidote to Islamic extremism and the spread of terrorism.

"For 60 years, my country, the United States pursued stability at the expense of democracy in the Middle East -- and we achieved neither. Now, we are taking a different course," she said.

But Rice's message drew less than an enthusisatic reception in one of Washington's staunchest partners in the Middle East.

Her speech produced no major applause, merely a polite ovation at the end. The biggest hand was reserved for audience members who questioned her on alleged war crimes against the Palestinians and abuses of the Koran.

Earlier, Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit heard out Rice's appeal to ensure a free and fair presidential election in September and had a retort of his own on Arab feelings towards the Americans.

Abul Gheit

"There is anger in the region," Abul Gheit told a joint news conference after Rice conferred with President Hosni Mubarak in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

"We have to control that anger and we have to work on that anger to build American-Muslim relations," he said.

Rice, on the fourth leg of her tour, also made a point of meeting eight Egyptian opposition leaders but two major groups were conspicuously absent.

Of Muslim Brotherhood

The Muslim Brotherhood, a once militant group that no longer espouses violence, was not invited. "We have not engaged with the Muslim Brotherhood and we won't," Rice told a questioner at the American University.

But Rice did meet Ayman Nur, whose detention earlier this year played a role in prompting Rice to cancel plans to visit Egypt in March.

Whatever the reception, Rice pressed on with her pro-democracy campaign.

"There are those who say democracy leads to chaos, conflict and terror. In fact, the opposite in true: freedom and democracy are the only ideas powerful enough to overcome hatred, division and violence."

After meeting Mubarak, Rice said that the world would be watching the September election in which he is widely expected to seek a fifth mandate.

"It is going to be essential that these elections be free and fair," she said. "I think our Egyptian friends understand that and I believe will take their responsibility seriously because people will watch what happens in Egypt."

Abul Gheit interrupted Rice to try to reassure her.

"Who would object to fair and transparent elections? Everybody wants fair and transparent elections, and it will be so, I assure you," he said.

Important Statement

A US official travelling with Rice described her speech as an "important statement" but eluded a question on what might happen if the Egyptian vote falls short of US standards.

A debate has been raging in Washington over the amount of pressure that should be exerted on Egypt, the most populous Arab country and the second top recipient of US economic and military aid in the world after Israel.

Egypt has a peace treaty with the Jewish state and plays a strategic mediating role between Israel and the Palestinians, currently engaged in talks over Israel's planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

Rice praised Egypt's role but issued another stark warning to Syria, piling the blame on the Damascus regime for instability between Israel and the Palestinians, as well as in Iraq and Lebanon.

"Our concerns are with Syria's behaviour. We need a Syria that takes seriously the changes that are taking place in the region," she said.

US officials say, no less than six aides helped nail down the language of Rice's keynote speech, in which she gave a country-by-country rundown of the US perception of the status of democratic efforts.

She also lashed out at Iran, three days after the first round of the presidential election. "The appearance of elections does not mask the organised cruelty of Iran's theocratic state," she said.●