Jump to navigation

Egypt

US senator moves to block military aid to Egypt over rights abuses

New chair of Senate Foreign Relations Committee calls for Cairo to  improve governance and rule of law

The decision on 30 September of United States' Senator Ben Cardin, the new chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, to threaten to block military aid for Egypt re-opens the debate over human rights abuses committed by President Abdel Fattah el Sisi's government.

Senator Cardin's move comes after the committee's previous chairman, Sen. Bob Menendez, was indicted on corruption charges over accusations that he accepted bribes to help Egypt obtain military aid. The New Jersey Democrat has denied all charges.

'Congress has been clear, through the law, that the government of Egypt's record on a range of critical human rights issues, good governance, and the rule of law must improve if our bilateral relationship is to be sustained,' said Cardin in a statement.

He added that he would 'block future foreign military funds as well as sale of arms to the government of Egypt if it does not take meaningful, and sustainable steps to improve the human rights conditions in its country.'

In September, the Biden administration withheld US$85 million in aid to Egypt out of an annual total of $1.3 billion. Last year, the State Department withheld about 10% of the $1.3bn budget on human rights grounds, with officials briefing that 10% was the most that can be withheld from the annual US military sales grant to Egypt that has been in place since 1979 (Dispatches 21/9/22, Washington makes symbolic cuts to Cairo's military aid).



Related Articles

DISPATCHES

Washington makes symbolic cuts to Cairo's military aid

Despite unease about his authoritarian rule, General El Sisi has got most of his requested military aid and diplomatic access

As the second biggest recipient of United States' military aid after Israel, Egypt remains a strategic priority for Washington despite growing calls from human rights campaigners for a...

READ FOR FREE

Al Qaida bomb compensation

A new front has opened in the long-running battle for compensation for the non-American victims of the 1998 bombings of the United States embassies in Kenya and Tanzania....


Too little, too late

The President’s promise to fight corruption after the elections seems to have convinced neither diplomats nor voters

While publicly condemning corruption, President Rupiah Bwezani Banda gave United States diplomats various explanations of why he could do little about it, according to US State Department cables...


Hangings resume

Executions have resumed in Egypt, Africa Confidential understands. At least seven people are believed to have been hanged since 16 June.


Hamas and Hezbollah

Last week, President Hosni Mubarak’s government arrested 49 Egyptians, Sudanese and others whom it accuses of forming Hezbollah cells in Egypt, planning attacks on Israeli tourists in Sinai...