The US State Department will withhold Egypt $130 million in military aid due to the country's record on human rights abuses. The State Department announced on Friday that Egypt had not satisfied the requirements for receiving the $130 million in foreign military financing that had been on hold since September. " The deadline for meeting those conditions will soon pass," the department said.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken in September approved the release of $300 million in foreign military financing to Egypt but withheld $130 million.
Human 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 is accused of presiding over a tightening crackdown on dissent in recent years.
"The (government of Egypt) made notable progress on the conditions but to date has not met them all. Therefore, after January 30, the secretary intends to reprogram the $130 million to other national security priorities.” The State Department stated that the funds will be diverted to other programmes, but provided no further details. Their requirement was that the government address " specific human-rights related conditions " by the end of January.Egypt"s government has undertaken a wide-scale crackdown on dissent in recent years, imprisoning thousands of individuals, primarily opposition activists participating in the 2011 Arab Spring movement.
The announcement comes only days after the government approved a $2.5 billion arms sale to the nation. When asked about the seeming contradiction, US authorities stated that the military help and the arms transaction are unconnected. They claim Egypt will shoulder the price for the $2.2 billion acquisition of 12 Super Hercules C-130J-30 cargo planes as well as $355 million in air defence radar equipment.
