Egypt tells US institute to suspend work

CAIRO, June 4 (Reuters) Egypt has told the US-based International Republican Institute (IRI) to stop its activities in Egypt, saying comments by its representative were interference in the country's internal affairs.

The Foreign Ministry today said it had summoned country director Gina London and told her to suspend all activities until the organisation, which monitors political systems abroad and promotes multi-party politics, receives a permit.

The ministry statement said London's comments to an Egyptian newspaper, in which she said political reform in Egypt had not been achieved in the past 25 years, were flagrant interference in Egypt's affairs.

In the interview with the Nahdet Masr daily on Saturday, she also said the institute could greatly speed up the democratisation process.

It has been in talks with a number of Egyptian political parties in four provinces to provide them with training and information to help them engage in multiparty politics.

London told the paper the institute had not yet finished the paperwork for licensing.

She said she was convinced she had not broken any law, and that the Egyptian and U.S. governments had signed agreements letting groups funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development operate without prior permission.

But the ministry statement denied that the IRI could operate in Egypt without obtaining a licence, and denied that the institute had ever officially applied for licensing.

The IRI's Web site describes it as a ''nonpartisan, nonprofit organisation dedicated to advancing democracy worldwide''.

It conducted an election assessment mission during the second round of voting in Egypt's parliamentary elections in November last year. The Egyptian government refused to cooperate with foreign monitoring of the elections.

REUTERS SK PM1819