Wahba.Marcelle.Pdf

The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project AMBASSADOR MARCELLE M. WAHBA Interviewed by: Charles Stuart Kennedy Initial interview date: April 8, 2015 Copyright 2020 ADST TABLE OF CONTENTS Background Childhood in Egypt The 1967 Arab Israeli War & Immigration to USA Seattle, Washington—City of Seattle Department of 1972–1979 Human Resources, Vocational Counselor Returning to Explore Egypt—Development Office, 1979–1985 American University in Cairo, Director of Grants and Projects Joined the Foreign Service 1986 Washington, D.C.—USIA’s NEA Area Office, Deputy 1986–1988 Media Coordinator Cairo, Egypt—U.S. Embassy Spokesperson 1988–1991 Egypt’s Media Environment The USAID Program Egypt’s Role in the Region Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait Nicosia, Cyprus—USIS Public Affairs Officer 1991–1995 The Madrid Middle East Peace Conference A Divided Island/Bicommunal Work in Cyprus Brushstrokes Across Cultures Role of the Fulbright Commission Turkish & Greek Cypriot politics Amman, Jordan—PAO & Acting Deputy Chief of Mission 1995–1999 Jordan’s Tribal Politics & Regional Challenges Transition from King Hussein to King Abdullah Cairo, Egypt—Counselor for Press and Cultural Affairs 1999–2001 Promoting Democracy Muslim Brotherhood & Mubarak Regime Religious Tensions Egypt & its Neighbors USIA Merger with the State Department Egypt’s Domestic Challenges Abu Dhabi, UAE—Ambassador 2001–2004 Appointment & Confirmation Process Aftermath of 9/11 & Domestic Reforms Preparing for War in Afghanistan: Role of MbZ First Woman Ambassador & Role of UAE Women UAE’s Federal Tribal System Human Trafficking The War in Iraq UAE & Iran Washington D.C.—National Defense University, 2004–2006 National War College, State Department Advisor and Deputy Commandant Washington D.C.—U.S. Department of Defense, Foreign 2006–2008 Policy Advisor to U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff Retirement from U.S. Department of State 2008 Post Retirement Activities Washington, D.C.— DerMar International, President 2008–2014 Consulting firm Washington D.C.— The Arab Gulf States Institute in 2014–2019 Washington, President Washington, D.C.—The Arab Gulf States Institute, 2019–Present President Emeritus & Distinguished Fellow INTERVIEW th Q: Today is the 8 of April 2015 with Marcelle M.- And what does the “M” stand for? WAHBA: Michel. Q: Okay. Is that another “M”? WAHBA: “M,” yes. Q: Oh, Marcelle. Wahba. W-A-H-B-A. WAHBA: Right. Q: All right. This is being done on behalf of the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training. And I’m Charles Stuart Kennedy. And how do you go, do people call you Marcelle or—? WAHBA: Marcelle, yes. Childhood in Egypt Q: Alright. Well, let’s start at the beginning. When and where were you born? WAHBA: I was born in Cairo, Egypt in December 1948. Q: Alright, so what were you doing in Cairo, Egypt. I mean in other words what was your family doing? WAHBA: I come from a family of Egyptian Copts and I was born and raised in Cairo till I was eleven years old when we traveled to the USA in 1959. At the time my father, Michel, was working at the American University in Cairo as the Registrar for Admissions. He had received his master’s degree from the University of Chicago in Psychology in the early 50s. In 1959, my father applied to the Fulbright program to study for his PhD in Psychology and was accepted at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill with a full scholarship. The whole family accompanied him, and we lived in Chapel Hill for two years and one year in Connecticut where my father had his internship in clinical psychology. I have an older sister, Irene, and a younger brother, Wagdi, although he goes by the name Mike. I completed sixth and seventh grade in Chapel Hill. My sister applied and was accepted with a scholarship to attend her first year of university at a women-only university called Western College for Women in Oxford, Ohio, which I also ended up attending years later. We loved Chapel Hill and all of us have very fond memories of our time there. Q: Okay, we’ll come back to that. What can you tell me about the background of your father? WAHBA: My father, Michel, was a very unique and interesting person. He came from a small family and was the eldest of five children. He struggled as a young man because his mother and father died young and he basically had to support his four siblings. He was a top student and upon graduation from high school was offered an Egyptian government scholarship to study engineering overseas. Unfortunately, he had to turn it down because he was forced to work part-time to help support his siblings after his parents died. But he was always a top student and when he completed his undergraduate degree from Cairo University, he applied for a scholarship to the University of Chicago, for his master’s degree, and was accepted. My mother, Carmen, also came from a small family. Q: Coptic? WAHBA: Yes, also Coptic. She was one of six children and met my father through her sister’s fiancé. It was not an arranged marriage. My mother’s family were a very strong and loving group primarily because of my grandparents who were both very special individuals and adored by all of us. My grandmother, Victoria, (named after Queen Victoria) came from the region of Fayoum and had beautiful auburn hair with very creamy skin color and lots of freckles. My grandfather, Botros, (Arabic for Peter) hailed from Upper Egypt and was over six feet tall. My grandfather was an expert in herbal medicines and treated himself successfully for diabetes and high blood pressure when he was in his sixties. He was a businessman who traveled and traded primarily in coffee and other products. In the early 1900s, he took his family and lived in Yemen and Ethiopia for several years, which is where my mother and some of her siblings were born. Actually, her birthplace, Ethiopia in 1922, is what facilitated our immigration from Egypt to the USA in 1967. When my parents met, my father was working hard, basically supporting his siblings, but also loved music and was an accomplished violinist. He was part of a small string quartet of primarily Greeks, Armenians and Egyptians that got together to play music on a regular basis. All amateurs, of course, and they played and enjoyed music in private settings. My mother often talked to us about how she would go to these musical evenings with him when they were engaged. At the time, of course, the Cairo Opera House was a very active institution with orchestral concerts and operas featuring the best of European voices and orchestras. My dad said the only way he could afford to go was to get a standing-room-only ticket. He couldn’t afford a seated ticket, but he said he felt very fortunate that he could attend to see and hear the very top European orchestras at the Cairo Opera House. He said he never missed a concert, never missed an opera. Q: Tell me, as a kid growing up in Egypt, what were you up to? WAHBA: Well, it was such an innocent lifestyle compared to what people’s lives are like now, whether in Egypt or here in the U.S. We were a fairly small family, unlike most Egyptian larger families with extensive networks of aunts, uncles and cousins. My father’s side of the family lived in Alexandria, but we didn’t grow up knowing my father’s side of the family very well given the distance. We were much more connected to my mother’s side of the family and my grandparents especially; we were very, very close to my grandparents. We spent every Sunday at their home for Sunday lunch where all of my mother’s siblings congregated with their families. My mother had five siblings—but one of her brothers had immigrated to the U.S. as soon as he graduated from university, so I never knew him in Egypt but met him for the first time when we immigrated to the U.S. He actually is a former FSO [Foreign Service Officer] and I believe the very first Arab-American Foreign Service Officer; his name is Boulos Malik. Boulos graduated from the American University in Cairo, emigrated to the United States in the 1950’s, received his MBA from New York University and then worked for the Voice of America before joining USIA [U.S. Information Agency]. Growing up in Cairo, we moved homes a number of times, which is unusual for Egyptians, who tend to stay put for decades! One thing about my father I remember very clearly, he hated living in crowded neighborhoods and when he moved us it was always to a newly developed area of the city. Q: That’s pretty hard to avoid in Egypt—crowds that is. WAHBA: Yes. And in those days of course Cairo was much smaller compared to what it is today. But still in those days he didn’t like being in a very congested neighborhood, so we moved two or three times and every time we moved it seemed to be to a quieter location. The villa we lived in before we immigrated was in such a new neighborhood, the street had no name, which I think in Cairo is pretty rare. So, when people asked where we lived, we had to give them the name of the metro stop and provide a long description of how to get to our home. Of my two parents, my mother Carmen was the more social one; she was the one that stayed connected to her family and friends.

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