US general holds talks in Cairo on NGO case

General Martin Dempsey shakes hands with Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi at the defence ministry in Cairo yesterday The top US military officer met Egypt’s ruling generals in Cairo yesterday and discussed the case of US pro-democracy activists charged in an investigation that has strained ties between Cairo and Washington. General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was the first senior US official to visit Cairo since the charges were brought against 43 foreign and Egyptian activists following a probe into civil society groups. Around 20 of those charged are Americans. They have been banned from leaving the country and include Sam LaHood, the country director of the International Republican Institute (IRI) who is the son of the US transportation secretary. An undisclosed number have taken shelter at the US embassy. The case has put a deep strain on relations with Washington, which counted Egypt as a close strategic ally under ousted president Hosni Mubarak and supplies Cairo with an annual $1.3bn in military aid. Both the US Congress and the White House have said the investigation could threaten the aid. The investigators have brought charges including that the activists were working for organisations not legally registered in Egypt. The Egyptian government says the issue is a case of law, not politics. Dempsey met Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi and chief of staff General Sami Anan during meetings at the defence ministry in Cairo. “They discussed a wide range of issues related to the long-standing security relationship between our two countries, including the issue involving US NGOs,” Colonel David Lapan, a spokesman for Dempsey, told Reuters in a statement. “We will not, however, further describe the contents and nature of their private discussions,” he added. An Egyptian army official said the sides had “stressed the importance of the two countries’ commitment to international conventions and treaties and emphasised the depth of the strategic relations between the US and Egypt”. Dempsey had stressed America’s “keenness to follow up on the process of democratisation in Egypt and the efforts of the armed forces to transfer power to civilian rule”, the official said. (Gukf times)