Pro-US democratic front exposed in NGO fiasco leaves US groping without a central role in democratic reform

After democracy-group crisis, U.S. seeking reliable partner in new Egypt
By Leila Fadel – 6 March, 2012 – Washington Post

CAIRO — American officials say the negotiated end to a crisis involving pro-democracy workers has only underscored what remains a major obstacle in U.S.-Egyptian relations: the absence of a reliable partner following the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak.

“One of our problems is we don’t really have an Egyptian government to have a conversation with,” Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said in recent testimony to Congress, in the midst of a diplomatic effort that ended last week when Americans under criminal investigation were whisked out of Egypt. “And I keep reminding myself of that, because it is an uncertain situation for all the different players.”

For now, aging Egyptian generals who once served Mubarak are running the country, the most populous in the Arab world. It was Mubarak-era holdovers, including Faiza Abou el-Naga, the planning and international cooperation minister, who led the charge against the nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).

U.S. officials hope the players will change after Egyptians elect a new president this summer. But they also recognize that they will be dealing with different and unknown centers of power, and they say their primary goal must be to build and strengthen a relationship with Egypt’s new leaders as the country makes a painful and bumpy transition to what many hope will be democracy. …more