As US-Egypt Strains Over Funding Grow, USAID Boss Quits The Country

[Purveyor]

Source: ASSOCIATED PRESS

CAIRO — The USAID director in Egypt abruptly flew back to Washington on Thursday after less than a year on the job, the first major casualty of a row between the two longtime allies over American funding for pro-democracy groups.

Jim Bever left his post the day after the Obama administration chastised Egypt’s leaders for stoking anti-American sentiment during the country’s rocky transition to democracy. In the rare public rebuke, the U.S. said it had noticed mounting attacks and criticism of U.S. aid and motives.

A U.S. Embassy statement said Bever will be “returning to Washington to take on new responsibilities and prepare for his next deployment.” It did not say why his tour was cut short.

The criticism of the U.S. is a sign that Egypt’s military rulers are growing anxious over foreign aid they fear could strengthen the liberal groups behind Egypt’s uprising at the expense of the military’s own vast power. Those youthful, pro-democracy groups have grown more critical of the ruling generals lately over what they see as the slow pace of the transition away from authoritarian rule.

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Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle-east/as-us-egypt-strains-over-funding-grow-usaid-boss-quits-the-country/2011/08/11/gIQA7E9G9I_story.html

[EFerrari]

1. Good news for Egypt. n/t

[DCKit]

2. USAID (like the World Bank and IMF) never does anything that doesn't benefit USAID. nt