CAIRO — The United States will provide Egypt with the first $190 million of a pledged $450 million in budget support and an additional $60 million to set up a joint enterprise fund, Secretary of State John Kerry said Sunday. “Today I advised him the United States will now provide the first $190 million of our pledged $450 million in budget support funds,” Kerry said after meeting president Mohamed Morsi, adding that Washington also pledged an initial $60 million for the enterprise fund. Kerry Sunday wrapped up his visit to deeply divided Egypt with an appeal for unity and reform to the country's president and military chief. A day after warning the country's bickering politicians that they must overcome differences to get Egypt's faltering economy back on track and maintain its leadership role in the volatile Middle East, Kerry brought a similar message to President Morsi and his defense minister and intelligence chief. Officials said Kerry raised Egypt's key regional role with Morsi and his top security aides, stressing the importance of upholding its peace agreement with Israel, cracking down on weapons smuggling to militants in the Gaza Strip and policing the increasingly lawless Sinai Peninsula while continuing to play a positive role in Syria's civil war. Liberal and secular opponents of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood say they will boycott upcoming elections, and violent clashes between protesters and security forces have created an environment of insecurity, complicating Egyptian efforts to secure vital international aid. In meetings with Egypt's foreign minister and opposition politicians Saturday, Kerry said reaching agreement on economic reforms to seal $4.8 billion in International Monetary Fund loans was particularly critical. Closing the IMF deal also will unlock significant US assistance promised by President Barack Obama last year. But the impact of his message of unity to the opposition was likely blunted as only six of the 11 guests invited by the US Embassy turned up and three of those six said they still intended to boycott the April parliamentary election, according to participants. Kerry said that the US would not pick sides in Egypt, and he appealed to all sides to come together around human rights, freedom and speech and religious tolerance. Equally essential, he said, is uniting to undertake the reforms necessary to qualify for the IMF package. Those include increasing tax collections and curbing energy subsidies. However, while expressing sympathy with the passion he heard from the opposition, Kerry suggested US frustration with their tactics even as he maintained that “we're not here to interfere, but to listen.” “The best way to ensure human rights and strong political checks and balances ... is through the broadest possible political and economic participation,” Kerry said after meeting Foreign Minister Kamel Amr. “We believe that being active, engaging in peaceful participation is essential to building strong communities and healthy democracies.” In an apparent nod to the current stalemate in Washington over the US federal budget, Kerry acknowledged that compromise is difficult yet imperative. “I say with both humility and with a great deal of respect that getting there requires a genuine give-and-take among Egypt's political leaders and civil society groups just as we are continuing to struggle with that in our own country,” he said. ‘There must be a willingness on all sides to make meaningful compromises on the issues that matter most to all of the Egyptian people.” The opposition accuses Morsi and the Brotherhood of following in the footsteps of ousted Hosni Mubarak, failing to carry out reforms and trying to install a more conservative system. — Agencies
