Egypt's military must move "more aggressively" to hold elections and future US aid will hinge upon a return to civilian rule, US Senator Lindsey Graham said on Sunday as he and another senior Republican lawmaker prepared to travel to Cairo.
"The Egyptian military must move more aggressively toward turning over control to the civilian population, civilian organizations. The military can't keep running the country. We need democratic elections," Graham said in an interview on CNN's "State of the Union" program.
President Barack Obama has asked Graham and Senator John McCain, both members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, to travel to Egypt to meet with its military leaders and members of the opposition. Graham said he and McCain would be leaving soon, but he did not give a date.
US officials have been grappling with how to respond to the situation in Egypt since its elected Islamist president, Mohamed Morsi, was ousted by the military on 3 July, plunging the nation into turmoil.
Almost 300 people have been killed in political violence since Morsi's overthrow.
The White House and US lawmakers are struggling with how to handle the $1.55 billion in mostly military aid that Washington sends each year to Egypt, a key ally in the Middle East.
US law bars sending aid to countries in which there has been a military coup, and Obama administration officials have been scrambling to talk about events in Egypt without using the word.
"I want to keep the aid flowing to Egypt but it has to be with the understanding that Egypt is going to march toward democracy, not toward a military dictatorship. And that's the message we're going to send," Graham said.
