The Egyptian government has filed a report on illegal foreign funding for civilian organizations, Minister of Planning and International Organization, Fayza Abouel Naga, said on Monday. The minister, speaking on the sidelines of a joint meeting by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB) in Washington, said that a fact-finding panel formed by the Egyptian government in July sumbitted its report on the illegal funding of unregistered civil organizations two weeks ago. In June, the Egyptian government slammed Washington after the US Agency for International Development (USAID) announced pro-democracy grants through Egyptian newspapers. In the same month, the US ambassador to Cairo, Anne Patterson, said her country had offered US$40 million to a number of Egypt-based human rights organizations. The panel's report, Abouel Naga said, includes the names of organizations that had obtained foreign financing without the government's knowledge, which it described as a danger to Egypt's national security. During the past six months, funds directed to civil society organizations exceeded the amounts received over the last six years, according to the minister. She said that the funding unregistered NGOs under the veneer of activism and elections monitoring creates confusion and infringes on Egypt's laws and sovereignty. Abouel Naga revealed that her ministry officially collaborates with several countries in funding nearly 30,000 NGOs that operate professionally in various fields.
