Egypt should refuse American aid

The General Secretary of Egypt's liberal Wafd Party has said the Egyptian government should refuse aid from the US, following criticism from President Barack Obama of the Egyptian military. In a press conference on Thursday, Obama said Washington "strongly condemns" the military action that began on Wednesday to clear anti-government sit-in protests in Cairo, and announced the cancellation of US military exercises with Egypt. Obama criticised the "violence that has taken the lives of hundreds of people and wounded thousands more" but stopped short of suspending $1.3 billion in annual military aid given to Egypt by the United States. In an interview with Arab Today, Fouad Badrawi said Egypt’s army-installed interim government should refuse to accept aid from the US in response to the comments, adding that the Cairo administration should continue to work with the Egyptian people to “fight terrorism”, paving the way for completing the transitional roadmap that is supposed to lead to new elections. The party leader said the Egyptian people reject interference in the affairs of their country by any country, particularly the US. Although the Obama attempted to remain balanced during his speech, he implicitly supported the Muslim Brotherhood, he added. Badrawi said Cairo should ignore the speech that he said had failed to condemn the “terrorist actions” of the Muslim Brotherhood, and called on the Egyptian government to focus on achieving the objectives of Egypt's revolution, including social justice, national independence and state-building. The Muslim Brotherhood has rejected accusations of causing violence, and on Friday human rights group Amnesty International condemned the use of “unwarranted lethal force” by Egyptian security forces, saying that while some protesters used violence, the authorities’ response was “grossly disproportionate”. Badrawi called on the Egyptian revolution to abandon former president Mohammed Morsi’s position of “subordination” to the US, saying Egypt should formulate a new approach to dealing with Washington, based on the national independence. Egypt should also rework its relationships with Russia, China and Iran, he said.