CAIRO: The American Embassy in Cairo has said that its support of local NGOs not registered by the government, will still receive American support despite an early August report that said Washington was ending nearly $10 million in assistance to rights groups not approved by Cairo. Prominent Egyptian scholar and activist Saad el-Din Ibrahim, accused the American Embassy of supporting the Egyptian regime by ending these necessary funding in order to keep a number of rights organizations afloat. Project on Middle East Democracy, a Washington-based research center that monitors Congress’ budget regarding Middle East funding, argued that those organizations that chose not to register with the Egyptian government will be the biggest losers. America in Arabic news organization reported that a number of groups in Egypt are currently looking into other financing means. It is unclear what funding will be available, however, for non-registered organizations in 2010. The Washington-based organization added that the American administration is responding to the Egyptian governments demands of not providing bilateral aid directly to civil groups that are not part of the government’s NGO register. In its report, titled “The Federal Budget and Appropriations for the Fiscal Year 2010,†released in late July, Project on Middle East Democracy said a group of Egyptian local organizations, including international organizations such as Freedom House, The National Democratic Institute for International Affairs and the International Republican Institute were among the recipients of such funding in recent years. In response to these accusations, media attache and spokeswoman for the embassy, Margaret White told reporters that “there had not been any change in the commitment of the government of the United States to promote democracy and human rights and the development of civil society in Egypt,” despite the fact that the overall level of economic support for the bilateral assistance program has decreased for the fiscal year 2009. White noted that steps are being taken to reduce the impact of this reduction to provide funding for Egyptian civil society organizations and partners of the United States via other sources of funding, including the Middle East Partnership Initiative and the funds administered by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor and made available to ensure that are key to civil society programs to continue receiving funding from the American government. White confirmed that since 2006, the American government had provided nearly $175 million in support of democracy programs in Egypt and it is “working with the Egyptian Government and a wide range of civil society groups on a range of programs, which include the rule of law, human rights, local government and decentralization, and the media, elections and political processes.” **reporting by Mohamed Abdel Salam BM
