Mubarak holdover blamed by NGOs for crackdown

WASHINGTON - U.S. nonprofit organizations under investigation in Egypt say an old ally of Hosni Mubarak is behind an Egyptian campaign against pro-democracy groups.

They want Washington to end relations with International Cooperation Minister Faiza Aboul Naga, or cut off military aid to Egypt entirely.

Aboul Naga claims the U.S. sought chaos in Egypt by paying these groups to do their work.

Security forces raided the nonprofit groups in December. Sixteen Americans are charged with wrongdoing. Seven Americans in Egypt cannot leave.

Lorne Craner is with the International Republican Institute. Craner says Aboul Naga helped launch a secretive panel against pro-democracy groups. Craner told a congressional committee she violated Egyptian law by announcing evidence against people under investigation.

David Kramer of Freedom House also blamed Egypt's military for stoking nationalism.

"We can safely say that Faiza Abul Naga started this, but I think it has gotten out of control since then," said Craner, according to Reuters.

"With her lies about our activities, she has managed to convince some of the (Egyptian) military that we were doing nefarious things," Craner told the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Abul Naga has linked U.S. funding of civil society initiatives to an American plot to undermine Egypt, Reuters reports. She has spoken of what she calls an attempt to steer the post-Mubarak transition in "a direction that realized American and Israeli interests."