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The Biden administration has announced that it is cancelling $130m in military aid to Egypt over human rights concerns, just days after the United States approved a massive $2.5bn arms sale to the country.
The State Department said on Friday that Egypt had not met the conditions to receive the $130m in foreign military financing that has been on hold since September. It said the money would be shifted to other programmes but did not elaborate.
www.aljazeera.com
The Biden administration is set to deny $130 million of military aid to Egypt over what it says are human rights concerns. That is what US State Department officials said on Friday in describing the punishment of a key ally.
It was not entirely unexpected. In September, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the aid would be withheld if Egypt did not address specific human rights-related conditions Washington has set out, which activists say included the release of certain individuals deemed to be political prisoners. An exception was granted under the Trump administration to free up foreign military financing for President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s government, worth $300 million, because it was in the interest of US national security.
The US has provided around $1.3 billion in foreign assistance to Egypt annually since the 2017 fiscal year, according to a congressional research report.
www.jpost.com
Rights groups had called on the administration to block the entire $300 million of foreign military financing to Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's Egyptian government. Sisi, who ousted the Muslim Brotherhood in 2013, has overseen a crackdown on dissent that has tightened in recent years.
"While the Secretary has not made the final decision, if there are not major developments over the next couple of days, the Secretary will re-program the $130 million to other national security priorities as he previewed in September," a State Department official said in a call with reporters.
The portion of the aid withheld accounts for 10 percent of the $1.3 billion that was allocated for Egypt for fiscal year 2020. This amount has been appropriated to Egypt every year since 2017, according to a congressional research report.
But Friday's announcement comes after the administration earlier this weekapproved the potential sale of air defense radars and C-130 Super Hercules planes to Egypt for a combined value of more than $2.5 billion, raising doubts about the impact of the withheld amount.
www.reuters.com
The State Department said on Friday that Egypt had not met the conditions to receive the $130m in foreign military financing that has been on hold since September. It said the money would be shifted to other programmes but did not elaborate.
US cancels $130m military aid for Egypt over rights concerns
Decision to cancel aid comes just days after the US approved a massive $2.5bn arms sale to the country.
The Biden administration is set to deny $130 million of military aid to Egypt over what it says are human rights concerns. That is what US State Department officials said on Friday in describing the punishment of a key ally.
It was not entirely unexpected. In September, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the aid would be withheld if Egypt did not address specific human rights-related conditions Washington has set out, which activists say included the release of certain individuals deemed to be political prisoners. An exception was granted under the Trump administration to free up foreign military financing for President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s government, worth $300 million, because it was in the interest of US national security.
The US has provided around $1.3 billion in foreign assistance to Egypt annually since the 2017 fiscal year, according to a congressional research report.
Egypt can't write off every prisoner as a national security threat - editorial
The US has provided around $1.3 billion in foreign assistance to Egypt annually since the 2017 fiscal year, according to a congressional research report.
www.jpost.com
Rights groups had called on the administration to block the entire $300 million of foreign military financing to Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's Egyptian government. Sisi, who ousted the Muslim Brotherhood in 2013, has overseen a crackdown on dissent that has tightened in recent years.
"While the Secretary has not made the final decision, if there are not major developments over the next couple of days, the Secretary will re-program the $130 million to other national security priorities as he previewed in September," a State Department official said in a call with reporters.
The portion of the aid withheld accounts for 10 percent of the $1.3 billion that was allocated for Egypt for fiscal year 2020. This amount has been appropriated to Egypt every year since 2017, according to a congressional research report.
But Friday's announcement comes after the administration earlier this weekapproved the potential sale of air defense radars and C-130 Super Hercules planes to Egypt for a combined value of more than $2.5 billion, raising doubts about the impact of the withheld amount.
Biden administration set to deny $130 mln in military aid to Egypt, U.S. officials say
The Biden administration is set to deny $130 million of military aid to Egypt over human rights concerns, U.S. State Department officials said on Friday, in a rare punishment of a key ally, even though it fell short of expectations of rights groups.
