Egypt risks losing military aid with raids

WASHINGTON: Egypt runs some risk of losing $1.5 billion in US military aid now that Egyptian prosecutors and police have stirred an uproar in Washington with raids on US-funded pro-democracy groups.

The State Department has hinted the funds could be withheld under a bill enacted a week ago linking the aid to democratic moves, and the sponsor of the legislation said Congress is ready to apply pressure in 2012.

"We do have a number of new reporting and transparency requirements on funding to Egypt that we have to make to the Congress," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said after the raids on Thursday.

"The Egyptian government is well aware of that and it certainly needs to be aware of that in the context of how quickly this issue gets resolved," Nuland said.

Nuland on Friday signaled progress toward defusing the crisis when she said Egyptian leaders offered assurances they will stop raids on US and other non-governmental organizations (NGOs) as well as return seized property.

The raided US organizations were the International Republican Institute, the National Democratic Institute, and Freedom House.

Prosecutors backed by police special forces stormed 17 offices of local and international NGOs on Thursday, confiscating computers and documents as part of a probe into allegations of illegal funding from abroad.

The raids fell under a wider campaign by Egypt's military rulers to silence dissent after months of criticism of its human rights record, according to analysts.