by Roxana Tiron, Washington
February 10, 2012
US SENATOR John McCain has said he will join a group of
senators travelling to Egypt as early as next week after the State
Department expressed frustration over charges against American
pro-democracy workers.
Senator McCain, the top Republican on the Senate Armed
Services Committee, said the visit would include discussions about US
military aid to Egypt.
In a separate mission, US General Martin Dempsey,
chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, would visit Egypt this week, a US
military official said.
Obama administration officials have criticised Egypt's plans to
prosecute 43 people associated with non-governmental organisations,
including 19 US citizens.
Egypt has asked for the arrest of 14 ''fugitives'' in connection with the case, Judge Ashraf al-Ashmawy said.
Egyptian Prime Minister Kamal Ganzouri said Egypt would
go ahead with the trial even at the risk of losing aid. ''The whole West
turned against Egypt for using its rights,'' he said at a conference in
Cairo.
The US was ''not getting traction'' with the Egyptian
government in efforts to resolve the dispute, said State Department
spokeswoman Victoria Nuland.
Several of the Americans have taken refuge in the US
embassy in Cairo, according to Ms Nuland, who withheld both the precise
number and the names.
''Congressional support for Egypt - including continued
financial assistance - is in jeopardy,'' Senator McCain said in a joint
statement with Republican senator Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire and
Joseph Lieberman, a Connecticut independent.
''A rupture in relations would be disastrous and the risks of such an outcome have rarely been greater,'' the senators said.
Pentagon officials including Defence Secretary Leon
Panetta have emphasised the need to resolve the dispute over NGOs, while
continuing to maintain a military relationship that is important to US
interests in the region.
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