(Washington) The Biden administration on Wednesday approved the bulk of its military aid to Egypt for the second straight year despite concerns over human rights there, pointing to limited progress, officials said. American officials.
Posted at 7:41 p.m.
“Our approach here reflects the administration’s concerns about human rights and fundamental rights in Egypt, while seeking to preserve the engagement and dialogue that we have strived for for 20 months in order to achieve further progress” in this area, a senior US State Department official told reporters on condition of anonymity.
The exercise is delicate for Washington, because Egypt is a strategic ally of the United States and each year stirs up a stir in Congress and with non-governmental organizations, castigating American aid to a country accused of abuse of rights. rights and to hold thousands of political prisoners.
American law obliges the State Department each year to certify or not the progress of Egypt in this area and conditions 300 million dollars of its aid to the progress made in this area.
This year, Secretary of State Antony Blinken has decided to deny Egypt $130 million of the $300 million, which will thus be “reprogrammed”, these officials said.
Direct US military aid to Egypt, which does not include arms sales, totals some $1.17 billion in fiscal year 2021.
Egypt, which hosts the COP27 climate summit in November, has thus been one of the main recipient countries of American military aid since the country was the first Arab nation to reconnect with Israel in 1979.
However, Washington considers that Egypt has made “clear progress” in the judicial field, even if the Biden administration deplores too limited progress in human rights.
Some NGOs estimate that there are some 60,000 political prisoners in Egypt.
US President Joe Biden claims to make human rights and the promotion of democracy a priority of his foreign policy, breaking with his predecessor Donald Trump.
But this principle often clashes with the interests of the United States when it comes to allies considered crucial, such as Egypt in the Middle East.
“If you are an ally of the United States, you are not locking up political prisoners,” lambasted Democratic Senator Chris Murphy, who had called on the Biden administration to block all of the $300 million.