U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, head of
Egypt’s military council, to urge a smooth transition to full
democratic rule, a day after crowds protested her meeting with
President Mohamed Mursi and the rising power of Islamists.

Tensions between Egypt’s new civilian leader and its senior
generals, who took interim power after the ouster of former
President Hosni Mubarak last year, have risen since Tantawi’s
council stripped Mursi of some of his powers and granted itself
legislative authority after the court-ordered disbanding of the
parliament. Egypt still has no constitution, a new government
has yet to be named and the economy is struggling to recover
from the uprising against Mubarak.

Since arriving in the country yesterday, Clinton has
avoided any direct comment about the military’s power grab and
repeatedly stressed that Egypt’s future is for its citizens to
decide, not the U.S. A photo of her meeting today with Tantawi
showed the two of them seated in plush, gold-hued armchairs,
smiling as they chatted.

“I have come to Cairo to reaffirm the strong support of
the United States for the Egyptian people and their democratic
transition,” she said yesterday. “As you move forward, we will
be there with support. Your choices will decide the future of
this country.”

‘Provocative’ Meeting

Clinton’s decision to meet Tantawi was a “provocative”
act that contributes further to the political rift in the
country by giving the impression that Egypt has two leaders, the
Revolution Youth Union, one of the youth activist groups that
participated in last year’s uprising, said in an e-mailed
statement.

Mohamed el-Sayed, the group’s general coordinator, who is
also a member of the committee charged with drafting the
constitution, said in the statement that Clinton’s visit had
gone beyond a diplomatic trip and entered into the realm of
interfering in Egypt’s domestic affairs.

Security guards said an estimated 6,000 people crowded the
street in front of Clinton’s hotel when she arrived in the
capital of the Arab world’s most populous nation. The protesters
set off fireworks, flashed lime-green laser lights and chanted
as they waved Egyptian flags. One placard said, “Go to hell,
Hillary.” Another, reflecting anti-Muslim Brotherhood
sentiment, said “You like the Islamists, Hillary? Take them
with you.”

National Interest

Secularists and other groups have voiced concern that the
priority of Islamists such as Mursi, who comes from the ranks of
the Brotherhood, is to advance their own agenda and dominate
politics at the expense of the broader national interest. Many
say they are worried that the U.S. is lining up alongside the
Brotherhood, which was the dominant group in parliament before
the assembly was disbanded, and against the military.

Clinton said yesterday that the U.S. would like to see the
military return to a “purely national security role.” She also
spoke about the need for the Brotherhood and the generals to end
their standoff by engaging in talks, and called for “an
inclusive and transparent process to draft a new constitution
that upholds universal rights and the rule of law, a
constitution for all Egyptians.”

Economic Package

Clinton met with Tantawi for just over an hour, according
to a State Department official who spoke on condition of
anonymity as she wasn’t authorized to speak on the record. While
Clinton discussed the political transition and the military
council’s dialogue with Mursi, Tantawi said that what Egyptians
need most now is help getting the economy back on track, the
official said.

Clinton explained the economic package she outlined
yesterday and spoke about the importance of protecting the
rights of all Egyptians, including women and minorities. They
also had an extensive discussion of security issues and regional
stability, including regarding Sinai, the Israeli-Palestinian
peace process, Libya, Sudan and Syria, the official said.

“It will take dialogue and compromise among all
stakeholders and parties to achieve these goals and avoid
confrontations that could derail progress toward democracy,”
Clinton said yesterday during an appearance with Foreign
Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr.

Clinton spent the morning in Cairo today meeting with
Christian leaders, Egyptian women and a business for technology
entrepreneurs named Flat6Labs. Later today, she goes to
Alexandria to formally open a new U.S. consulate, before
continuing on to Israel. During her meeting with Mursi, she
underscored the value of Egypt’s peace treaty with Israel,
saying that in the last 30 years Egyptians have lived free of
conflict.

Economic Assistance

Since the January 2011 uprising, Clinton and several other
U.S. officials have come to Cairo for meetings in which she
“showed her encouragement and that of the American
administration to political Islam while ignoring all other civil
political movements in Egypt,” said a statement emailed by
billionaire Naguib Sawiris and three other prominent Copts.

The group said they see Clinton’s visit and “her wish to
meet with Coptic politicians after she had met with Muslim
Brotherhood and Salafi leaders in the past as a form of
sectarian division that is rejected by the Egyptian people in
general and the Copts in particular.”

Job Creation

In the meetings with Amr and Mursi, the Secretary of State
outlined millions of dollars in economic assistance the U.S. is
set to provide Egypt, giving details of a $1 billion package
announced last year by President Barack Obama, according to
another State Department official who spoke on the condition of
anonymity as he is not authorized to speak on the record. The
money will be used for short-term funding and for a debt swap
that will back job-creation efforts, he said.

Clinton also explained the administration’s plans to
support the country’s pursuit of financing from groups such as
the International Monetary Fund, the official said. Talks with
the IMF for a $3.2 billion loan have yet to be concluded.

Clinton discussed a U.S.-Egypt enterprise fund, capitalized
at $60 million in its first year, that will invest in small and
medium-sized businesses to create jobs. And she announced $250
million in loan guarantees for small businesses and said a U.S.
business delegation will make a visit in September to examine
investment opportunities.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Nicole Gaouette in Cairo at
ngaouette@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Dick Schumacher at
dschumacher@bloomberg.net;
John Walcott at
jwalcott9@bloomberg.net

Article source: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-07-15/clinton-meets-tantawi-to-discuss-egypt-s-political-transition