US to push democracy initiative

WASHINGTON -- The United States will launch a diplomatic drive next week to win support for its new democracy initiative in the Arab world, officials said yesterday, sending a senior diplomat on a regionwide tour to convince regimes that have expressed skepticism.

The Bush administration's Greater Middle East Initiative, the most ambitious US democracy effort since the end of the Cold War, encompasses a wide range of diplomatic, cultural, and economic measures, according to a draft of the plan.

It calls for the United States and Europe to press for and assist free elections, foster new independent media, help create a "literate generation," establish a greater Middle East Development Bank modeled on Europe's postwar model, translate Western classics into Arabic, and give $500 million in loans to small entrepreneurs, especially women.

Citing a "unique challenge and opportunity for the international community," the report cites three "deficits" -- freedom, knowledge, and women's empowerment -- that have "contributed to conditions that threaten the national interests" of the Group of Eight industrialized nations.

"So long as the region's pool of politically and economically disenfranchised individuals grows, we will witness an increase in extremism, terrorism, international crime, and illegal migration," the report said.

Marc Grossman, the undersecretary of state for political affairs, is scheduled to leave this weekend to discuss the initiative with governments and private groups in Morocco, Egypt, Bahrain, Jordan, and Turkey. That tour will be followed by talks in Brussels with officials from NATO and the European Union, the State Department said.

The United States plans to issue the proposal formally at three summit meetings held in June by the Group of Eight industrialized nations, NATO, and the European Union.

Leaders in Arab countries have said they will reject the plan if it appears to originate from outside the region. The Egyptian newspaper Al Ahram reported Thursday that in an interview President Hosni Mubarak had "denounced with force the ready-for-use prescriptions proposed abroad under cover of what are called reforms."

And some Arab and European leaders warn that a US campaign to promote democracy will fail unless the Bush administration accompanies it with a more determined effort to settle the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

US officials insist they have no intention of imposing any plan on the region. The working definition of the "greater Middle East" includes the 22 nations of the Arab world, plus Turkey, Israel, Pakistan, and Afghanistan.

"As the president has said, ideas for reform must come from the region. The Greater Middle East Initiative is designed to respond to the region's needs," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said yesterday, announcing Grossman's trip. "These are sovereign nations. They have their own interests to protect."

An eight-page draft of the plan -- a version of which was first published on the website of the London newspaper Al Hayat -- calls for the G-8 to forge a long-term partnership with the region's "reform leaders" to launch a "coordinated response" to promote democratic change. It outlines a wide range of actions the West would foster.

On elections, the working draft calls for assistance in civic education, the creation of independent election commissions, and voter registration, particularly of women.

To press judicial reforms, the West could create or fund legal defense centers for advice on civil, criminal, or Islamic law and provide access to defense lawyers.

The United States and its European allies also would increase funding to democracy, human rights, media, and women's groups, among other organizations.