Egypt’s Abul Naga: US hijacked revolution
Abul Naga under fire from activists over NGO row.
CAIRO: Egypt’s Minister of State for International Cooperation and Planning Faiza Abul Naga told prosecutors investigating the case of foreign funding to NGOs that the United States “tried to hijack the January 25 revolution and manipulate the situation in Egypt in accordance with its interests.”
She accused, during her testimony, the US of “hijacking and containing the Egyptian revolution and directing it to serve the interests and the interests of Israel.”
Abul Naga said that the “January 25 revolution was a surprise to the United States, and that it was out of America’s control, when the revolution transformed into a massive popular uprising all over Egypt.”
She added that then “the United States decided in time to work with all of its possibilities and tools to contain the situation and directing it in the direction to achieve the American and Israeli interests as well.”
Her statements come as a row between Cairo and Washington continues to grow larger as a result of the Egyptian government’s charging of NGO workers in the country of “illegal foreign funding” and having barred American citizens from leaving the country.
She explained that “America and Israel failed to realize their goals through fomenting chaos and unrest, thus used the direct funding of NGOs and organizations, a way to implement these goals.”
She also noted that “all signals show that there is a clear determination to abort any change for Egypt to rise as a modern democracy with a prosperous economy, as it represents the biggest threat to the interests of Israel and the US, not in Egypt alone, but in the region as a whole.”
She explained that the three main US organizations involved in the case, the Republican Institute, “which is sponsored by or the Republican Party and which implements the policies and objectives of the Republican Party known as right-wing conservative,” she said, and The National Democratic Institute, “of the US Democratic Party, and Freedom House, which was established by the Jewish lobby and its circles in the US,” adding that this organization often “accuses and criticizes several countries that do not conform to the policies of the United States.”
“The American determination and persistence to support these organizations to engage in political activities is a blatant violation of the law, which represents clear harm to national security,” the Minister was quoted as saying by the state-owned MENA news agency.
She stressed that such interference in Egyptian affairs, “is a blatant challenge to Egyptian sovereignty, and serves undeclared goals which represent serious harm to Egypt and its national security.”
She noted that US direct funding of Egyptian civil society organizations reached $175 million, during the period from 2005 to 2011, of which some $105 million was provided from the American side during a period of 7 months, from February to September 2011.
Tensions have risen between the United States and Egypt after Cairo referred 44 activists and NGOs workers, including 19 Americans to trials on charges of receiving illegal foreign funds to spread unrest in Egypt.
BM
Section: Egypt, Latest News, North America
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