CAIRO: American Ambassador to Egypt, Margaret Scobey, during a visit to the Assiut Governorate in southern Egypt to sign an agreement with the governor there in order to finance 6 projects for drinking water stations and sanitation, said that the US Administration “does not support a certain candidate in the upcoming presidential elections” and stressed that her country supports holding free and fair elections anywhere in the world. Scobey refused to announce the US position on the state of political upheaval in Egypt and also declined to comment on the demands of the potential presidential candidate Mohamed ElBaradei and former presidential candidate and leader of the al-Ghad Party Ayman Nour. She also did not comment on the possible presence of international monitors in the 2011 presidential election. She denied the existence of an American agenda for the elections in Egypt in 2011, saying that the US does not support a particular candidate, “but merely to provide technical support to NGOs and help them to play a role in monitoring elections to be free, transparent and fair.” She added that the US government “also provides support to assist the government in holding free and transparent elections.” She also confirmed to reporters that the two-state solution and the establishment of a “just and comprehensive peace is the essential foundation of the policy of President Barack Obama with regard to the Palestinian cause and that this solution could end crises and problems in the Palestinian territories.” The American administration, she continued, “calls on all parties to show self-restraint and condemn acts of provocation from both sides.” She also calls for the opening of the holy places in Palestine for members of all religions. Commenting on a question regarding the possibility of a trial for former President George W. Bush for war crimes in Iraq, Scobey confirmed that the current U.S. administration “does not look to the past policies of the Bush administration, but has renewed its participation in the human rights organization of the UN and America believes in human rights and the US adminstration`s policies are based on humanitarian standards.” This came during a press conference held by the US Ambassador and Assiut Governor General Nabil Ezabi in the general Divan of the governorate on Thursday, after signing an agreement to finance the construction of 6 stations for drinking water and sanitation in six villages across the governorate with the contribution of 92 million Egyptian pounds by the US and 8 million pounds from the Egyptian government. It is part of the government's agreements with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The project will be completed in September 2012, benefiting some 200,000 people. Skobey said that “aid is by no means uniform” and pointed out that the existing investments in Assiut, including the industrial zones of which there were six districts, “they can pay the wheel of development in the province without the need for support.” Scobey said that the US Administration has changed the course of economic assistance in human development. The US is to “provide support for the Egyptian government plans to develop education” and “we talk with the government on development in Egypt,” she said. BM
