WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Sunday spoke with new Egyptian Prime Minister Essam Sharaf, stressing US support for democracy and updating him on US efforts to evacuate Egyptians fleeing Libya.
State Department Spokesman Philip Crowley said in a statement on Twitter that Clinton, "reaffirmed our willingness to support Egypt’s democratic transition and its economy."
She also discussed the ongoing unrest in neighboring Libya, "including US and international efforts to evacuate Egyptian citizens."
Also in a twitter statement, the Defense Department said the last of four US military flight ferrying Egyptians home had departed from Djerba, Tunisia with 328 passengers.
The US has flown 640 Egyptians home in over the last two days, the Pentagon said.
The US and European countries Thursday began airlifting more than 40,000 Egyptians who had fled Libya for Tunisia, to avoid chaos and epidemics spreading at makeshift camps on the border.
Sharaf was named by the country’s new military rulers on Thursday to replace Ahmed Shafiq, who was opposed by protesters because he had been appointed by Hosni Mubarak in the dying days of his regime.
Sharaf had served briefly as a transport minister under Mubarak, had joined protesters in Tahrir Square during the uprising to demand political and economic change.
