Washington, United States– The United States has approved most military assistance to Egypt despite persistent concern over human rights, the State Department said, stressing that Cairo has been helpful on several hotspots.
The $1.215 billion package marks the third straight year that President Joe Biden’s administration has waived some restrictions imposed by Congress on aid to Egypt, despite Biden’s vows to put human rights at the heart of US foreign policy.
“This decision reflects that Egypt is making a specific and ongoing contribution to US national security priorities,” a State Department official said in announcing the decision by Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
He said Egypt was a “crucial voice in efforts to advance regional peace and security” including between Israel and the Palestinians, in its war-torn neighbors Sudan and Libya, and in international efforts on the Ukraine war.
The official insisted that the decision “in no way diminishes our commitment to advancing human rights in Egypt and around the world.”
Egypt is one of the largest recipients of US military aid, dating to its historic normalization of relations with Israel in 1980, the first for an Arab state.
Egypt has played a key mediating role in flare-ups between the Jewish state and Hamas, the militant group that runs the Gaza Strip.
The latest package of military aid includes $980 million that was not subject to restrictions.
Some $235 million was subject to human rights conditions imposed by Congress. Blinken did not certify that Egypt met the conditions, but he waived the consequent restrictions on aid, citing US national security interests.
However, Blinken withheld a separate $85 million that required certification that Egypt is making progress releasing political prisoners.
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, a former military leader turned civilian, has announced a “national dialogue” with the opposition, which he has crushed, and began releasing political prisoners in April last year.
A second US official pointed to the “significantly reduced pace” in prisoner releases this year as well as an increase in “politically motivated arrests.”
“We’ve had very tough conversations with the Egyptians on our human rights concerns at all levels,” he said.
Both officials spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity.
But rights advocates say that the waivers show to Sisi that US warnings are toothless.
Senator Chris Murphy, a Democrat vocal on human rights, in a recent speech criticized the widely expected aid decision, saying that “business as usual” with Egypt would “send a signal to democracy activists that we aren’t serious, that we don’t have their back.”
Sisi helps on stability in Gaza “because it’s in Egypt’s independent national security interest to do so, not because we pay them to do it,” Murphy said.
Sisi had a warm relationship with former US president Donald Trump, who made no pretense of burdening allies with human rights concerns.