A soldier keeps guard from atop a military vehicle in front of the Presidential Palace in Cairo, yesterday.
CAIRO: Egypt’s public prosecutor yesterday ordered the freezing of assets belonging to 14 top Islamists, as the US dispatched its first senior official to Cairo since president Mohammed Mursi’s ouster.
US Under Secretary of State William Burns is beginning his visit to Cairo from today, the State Department said, adding he would “underscore US support for the Egyptian people”.
His trip comes amid growing pressure on Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood, which is in disarray with key figures either detained, on the run or keeping a low profile.
It also comes amid international calls for the release of the detained Mursi, Egypt’s first freely elected president who was topped in a popularly backed military coup on July 3.
The Brotherhood has refused to join the new government headed by caretaker prime minister Hazem Al Beblawi who is pushing ahead with talks on forming his cabinet.
Kuwait has sent two oil tankers carrying crude and diesel worth $200m to Egypt, a Kuwaiti newspaper said on Sunday, part of a $4bn aid package pledged by the Gulf Arab state last week after the ouster of Islamist President Mohamed Mursi.
Kuwait last week joined other oil-producing Gulf states in pledging a massive aid package worth $12bn to Egypt in a show of support after the army toppled the Muslim Brotherhood government. Most US-allied Gulf monarchies regard the Brotherhood as a threat.
Kuwait’s Arabic-language Al Rai newspaper quoted oil sources as saying that an oil tanker carrying between 90,000 and 100,000 tonnes of diesel that happened to be travelling through the Suez Canal was diverted to Egypt. A second tanker with 1.1 million barrels of crude was ordered to sail towards Egypt, it said.
The newspaper estimated the value of the cargo on each ship at $100m.
Kuwaiti officials were not immediately available to comment on the report.
The state news agency Kuna said last week that Kuwait’s aid package would comprise a $2bn central bank deposit, a $1bn grant and $1bn in oil products. It did not say when the aid would be delivered.
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates had earlier pledged a total of $8bn in aid to Egypt.
The rise of Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt since 2011 had unsettled most Gulf Arab states, including the UAE, which feared it would embolden Islamists at home.
Mursi became president a year ago in Egypt’s first freely contested election but was ousted by the military after mass protests against his rule, which critics said was marked by creeping authoritarianism and mismanagement of the economy. Kuwait has in the past coordinated policy with Saudi Arabia and the UAE by pledging financial aid for Gulf neighbours hit by social unrest such as Bahrain and Oman, but also Arab states further afield such as Morocco and Jordan.
The aid to Egypt from the three Gulf Arab oil producers is expected to help Cairo avoid a balance of payments crisis and overcome fuel shortages that were partly responsible for increasing public anger towards Mursi.
It will also ease pressure on Cairo to conclude long-running talks with the International Monetary Fund on a $4.8bn loan. However, a widening fiscal gap and political turmoil following Mursi’s toppling last week will remain a pressing challenge for Egyptian authorities, analysts said.
Qatar lent Egypt more than $7bn during Mursi’s year in power but other Gulf states remained aloof, wary of the Muslim Brotherhood’s potential influence in their own conservative, dynastically ruled countries.
Investigators began questioning Mursi and members of his Muslim Brotherhood over their escape from jail during the 2011 uprising, judicial sources said. The move came after prosecutors received criminal complaints against Morsi and other senior Islamists, and as caretaker premier Hazem al-Beblawi resumed talks on forming his cabinet.
Agencies
