Powell for Arab democracy but Middle East no ready convert

IT WAS first unveiled to the world as the American dream for spreading democracy right across the Middle East.

But by the time US secretary of state Colin Powell came to launch the administration’s "big idea" formally last night at a conference of Arab leaders in Morocco, Washington had been forced by soaring anti-American sentiment to scale back the ambitious scope of the project.

Instead of leading a high-profile campaign to press for sweeping democratic reforms in Arab and Muslim nations from Mauritius to Pakistan, the US had been forced to boil it down to mundane money matters.

The Forum for the Future conference of foreign and finance ministers from more than 25 countries, co-chaired by Powell and Moroccan foreign minister Mohammed Nenaissa was held in Rabat.

Its focus was the creation of a $100m regional fund for small business loans and how to encourage foreign investment and improve the climate for entrepreneurs.

Powell stressed the need for economic and political reforms in the Arab world to defeat terrorism, when he opened a meeting. "Now is not the time to argue about the pace of democratic reform or whether economic reform must precede political reform," Powell told delegates.

"All of us [confront] the daily threat of terrorism. To defeat the murderous extremists in our midst we must work together to address the causes of despair and frustration that extremists exploit for their own ends."

Powell acknowledged that when the idea was first floated it was regarded by some as "America, once again... dictating to the world". But he said the US intent was to help countries modernise and reform in their own way. "We all agree that effective and sustainable change can only come from within."

But to many Arabs, the conference was dismissed as American meddling in Middle Eastern politics. Saad Eddine Othmani, the head of Morocco’s main opposition Islamist Justice and Development party, said the Iraqi bloodshed "ruined any chance of a rapprochement between Americans and people in the Middle East". "How can Americans in this situation bring us democracy?" he asked.

To avoid the American imprint, a modest political effort was delegated to Italy, Turkey and Yemen. But a so-called "democracy dialogue" to be organised by these three countries to bring Arab leaders together with advocates of democracy to discuss possible reforms looks like being nothing more than a talking shop.

It did not start out that way. The original plan was the brainchild of a group of neo-conservative senior administration officials, led by Paul Wolfowitz, the US deputy secretary of defence, who believe the removal of Saddam could trigger a dramatic change for the better throughout the whole of the Arab Middle East and woo them away from the idea that Islam is "the religion of the sword".

They believe regime change in Iraq could be the touchstone for a transition to democracy among its neighbours.

The result was the Bush Administration’s so-called ‘Greater Middle East Initiative’ to urge Arab states to promote democracy, human rights and economic liberalisation, which emerged in February this year.

Immediately it ran into resistance. The plan sparked anger throughout the Arab and Muslim world, where many suspected it was a tool to impose western values on traditional societies in the aftermath of the invasion of Iraq.

The initiative also provoked hostility in Europe, particularly from French president Jacques Chirac, who argued against the proselytising of democracy, and of those who feared it would further delay a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Faced with this outcry, Washington altered its proposal and repackaged it as the Broader Middle East and North Africa initiative. But it was given only a lukewarm endorsement by the Group of Eight industrialised nations at a US-hosted summit in June.

In Morocco, Islamic activists in the media denounced yesterday’s conference as an "indignity" and "a humiliation of the Moroccan people".

At least Saudi Arabia and Egypt, which had previously refused to join the US initiative, turned up for the Rabat conference, as did the foreign ministers of Iran, Syria and Lebanon.

Powell, who is on his final foreign tour before leaving his post, said he believed the conference would boost interest in governmental reforms that were haltingly under way in a handful of Arab and Muslim nations.