CAIRO: A recent American Congressional delegation to Egypt has declined to comment on reform and press freedom issues in the country. The committee met with a number of key Egyptian officials, but did little to strike optimism in the opposition community over possible American intervention in what activists say is the deterioration of the state of affairs in Egypt.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit met with a delegation of the United States Congress on Saturday in Cairo, which was headed by Senator Robert Casey, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee and was attended by the American Ambassador to Egypt Margaret Scobey, Mostafa Fiqi , Chairman of the Committee of Arab Affairs and National Security of the Shura Council (Upper House of Parliament) and Hala Mostafa, Editor of the Democracy magazine of the Al-Ahram Institution in Cairo.

Local newspapers said that the delegation ignored the status of democracy and reform in Egypt, while it did touch on slightly press freedom conditions in Egypt, as well as the situation in the Middle East.

But it did little to create an aura of optimism from Egyptian activists, who have long called on American President Barack Obama to take a stern stance toward the government in Cairo. They said the American government is allowing Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and his deputies to maintain a stranglehold on affairs because “they are afraid to lose an important Middle Eastern ally as they pursue their war on terror.”

Ahmed Mohamed, a 32-year-old activist who has recently protested against police abuse in the country, said he is doubtful the Americans will do anything and the delegations’ visit “shows that they are going to just give lip service to the important issues facing Egyptians.”

Al-Fiqi said that he had participated in the talks, responding to the invitation of Aboul Gheit,. He reported that the meeting saw an exchange of opinions and views on a number of issues.

“The US delegation showed deep understanding of the situation in the region, especially since they came from a tour in Afghanistan, Israel and several other Arab countries,” he said, stressing that the meeting saw agreements on the “importance of the Egyptian role in the next phase.”

He stressed that the talks did not address democracy and reform in Egypt, or American.aid provided to Egypt.

“There was no talk about these things, because the whole conversation focused on foreign affairs,” he reported in statements to local media.

For her part, Mustafa said she attended the meeting as a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP), in addition to her specialization in America and the Middle East affairs.

“The delegation discussed the problem of the Middle East, Arab-Israeli conflict and it didn’t discuss any of the domestic situation in Egypt, and only addressed freedom of press in Egypt, noting that Aboul Gheit spoke about the difference between freedom of press and personal attacks on individuals,” she said.

This will have little positive impact on hopes that Washington would step up its pressure on the government here to change its current modus operandi, which has seen bloggers, activists, and individual citizens detained, beaten and even killed for what they say or post online.

“When will Washington see that they are allowing a dictator to maintain its power? If we were Iran and Mubarak said negative things about America things would be different, but it all comes down to money and trade. It is unfortunate,” added Mohamed.

** Mohamed Abdel Salam contributed to this report.