CAIRO: The Kefaya Movement for Change froze the membership of its former general coordinator for participating in a conference held in the US, Kefaya co-founder Mohamed El-Ashqar told Daily News Egypt Monday. “George Ishaq took part in the “Alliance of Egyptian Americans” conference held in the US earlier this month without taking permission from the movement,” El-Ashqar said. Ishaq traveled to the US with members of the National Coalition for Change, a movement headed by Mohamed ElBaradei, and other Egyptian intellectuals. “Ishaq also spoke during the conference on behalf of the movement,” Al-Ashqar noted. Kefaya had earlier accused Ishaq of attempting to “appease the Americans,” when he and other delegation members met with former US officials. The movement considered such acts a bid to resort to the US for imposing democracy on Egypt, which violates its policy. In a statement following a Kefaya coordination committee meeting Saturday, the movement confirmed its “rejection of any kind of communication with any American entity starting with the US embassy in Egypt and moving to the White House.” Ishaq denied Kefaya's accusations. In a statement released Sunday, he said that his trip was “a patriotic attempt … seeking to mobilize a considerable number of Egyptians abroad and widening the base of national reform advocates.” Ishaq will be questioned by the movement's accountability committee within two weeks.
