Berlin (dpa) – Germany is to send a special envoy to Egypt this week to protest at police raids last month on 17 democracy promoting groups, the Foreign Ministry in Berlin announced Tuesday. One of the 17 externally backed groups raided was the Cairo office of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, which is funded by the German government and is associated with the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party of Chancellor Angela Merkel. Volkmar Wenzel, special envoy for transformation in the Arab world, would meet Wednesday with Foreign Minister Mohammed Amr and other officials. He would press for the police inquiry to be brought to an end as soon as possible. “Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle frankly expects an immediate cessation in hindrance of the work of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation,” the ministry said in a statement. It said the activities of political foundations were important in the transformation to democracy in nations in North Africa. Egyptian prosecutors have said the 17 groups are suspected of financing political activity. Germany has a range of state-funded political foundations working abroad. All deny that they promote any specific ideology and say they only offer education in the methods and principles of democracy. The Foreign Ministry said a diplomat would accompany the head of the Konrad Adenauer Cairo office, Andreas Jacobs, to a meeting Tuesday with prosecutors. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/Iym7W Tags: Germany, NGO, Police, Protest, Raid Section: Egypt, Europe, Latest News