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| Women walk yesterday past the building of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Cairo which was raided on Thursday |
Egyptian officials have assured the US they will halt raids on pro-democracy and human rights groups and return property seized in a crackdown that strained ties with Washington, a senior US official said yesterday.
The US ambassador in Egypt, Anne Patterson, spoke again with top Egyptian officials including members of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces yesterday to press US demands that the non-governmental organisations (NGOs) be allowed to resume normal operations, the official said.
“The ambassador has sought and received Egyptian leadership assurances that the raids will cease and property will be returned immediately,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The US reacted sharply on Thursday after Egyptian police raided the offices of 17 non-governmental groups, including several that receive US backing, and hinted it could review the $1.3bn in annual US military aid to Cairo if the raids continue.
Egypt’s official Mena news agency said the raid was part of a probe into foreign funding of civil society groups, which helped drive the protests that toppled president Hosni Mubarak in February and have been frequent critics of the army’s response to continued street unrest.
Among those targeted in Thursday’s raid were the International Republican Institute and National Democratic Institute, which are loosely associated with the US Democratic and Republican political parties and receive US government funding for programmes aimed at promoting democracy in Egypt and elsewhere.