Promoting democracy – the military way

Regime backs 'NGO' conference in Egypt

By Brian Whitaker

"Tomorrow marks the start of a two-day conference in Cairo fronted by an obscure NGO called the Egyptian Council for Democracy Support (EGCODS) – and backed by the military-led government.

The conference, to be held in a five-star hotel which is owned and run by the Egyptian military, seems to be part of a charm offensive aimed at persuading the world that General Sisi's takeover of the country last July has been "misunderstood".

A blurb on the conference website says:

"International media have showcased different visions and interpretations of what is happening in Egypt. For many international observers and analysts, the picture seemed to be not well-understood, either because of unawareness of Egyptian culture, or pushed by biased international political standing not favouring the will of Egyptians ...

"Therefore, some Egyptians took the initiative to transparently clarify the reality of events in order for the global audience to closely realise the true reasons and outcomes of Egypt’s turmoil caused by the ousted regime …"

Foreign journalists have been invited to attend with all expenses paid. "It is [a] full board visit covered by one of the Egyptian NGOs, 'Egyptian Council for Democracy Support'," Sohair Younis of the Egyptian embassy in London informed Jack Shenker, one of the journalists invited.

Shenker, who formerly reported for the Guardian from Cairo, was surprised that a supposedly non-governmental organisation had the embassy's resources at its disposal in drumming up support for the conference.

But that's not all. When the conference was first announced its website made the rather imporbable claim that various European media organisations including the BBC, Le Figaro in France, the Italian news agency ANSA, the German broadcaster Deutsche Welle and News Talk in Ireland, were sponsoring the event.

The names of the BBC and Deutsche Welle have since been removed from the list, though the others remain as "media partners". The BBC reportedly denied all knowledge of its alleged sponsorship.

A new name has also joined the list: the Egyptian Tourism Authority, which is described as the "official sponsor". So it looks as if the government is dipping into its tourism budget to support a conference which is not about tourism.

Organisation of the conference is being handled by a Cairo-based company called db Group (whose website, incidentally, bears a striking resemblance to that of EGCODS). According to db Group, it is working on the conference in partnership with al-Ahram newspaper, a PR firm called InfocastME ... and SIS.

SIS is the State Information Service – another arm of the Egyptian government. "