Biden administration approves $1.3 billion in military aid for Egypt, despite reports that rights abuses remain widespread.
The administration of US President Joe Biden has said it will provide Egypt with $1.3 billion in military assistance, ignoring concerns about continued rights abuses by President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi's government.
Normally, some of that aid would be tied to conditions requiring Egypt to implement improvements to its human rights record, but on Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Congress that military assistance would not be subject to the usual conditions.
A US State Department spokesman later explained that those requirements had been dropped in the name of national security.
“This decision is important to advance regional peace and Egypt’s specific and continued contributions to U.S. national security priorities, in particular to finalize a ceasefire agreement for Gaza, bring hostages home, increase humanitarian assistance for Palestinians in need, and help bring about a lasting end to the conflict between Israel and Hamas,” the spokesman told Reuters.
Egypt, a key US ally in the Middle East, has played a key role in ongoing ceasefire negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian armed group Hamas as leaders seek to end the war in Gaza.
Since 2020, the United States has withheld a portion of security assistance to Egypt — amounting to about $320 million — as a form of leverage to push for progress on human rights and democracy.
But on Wednesday, Blinken said the full amount would be granted this year because of “clear and consistent” improvements on issues such as the release of political prisoners.
An estimated $95 million in military aid was tied to the prisoner release, with another $225 million also subject to human rights scrutiny.
However, human rights groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have denied that Egypt is working to ease the crackdown on political dissidents. They say the government's repressive activities remain widespread.
“Authorities released hundreds of detainees but arrested many more, joining thousands of critics, including journalists, peaceful activists, and human rights defenders,” Human Rights Watch said in an assessment of conditions in Egypt.
“Authorities harass and detain relatives of dissidents abroad and use vague accusations of ‘morality’ to prosecute LGBT people, female social media influencers, and survivors of sexual violence. Serious crimes, including torture and enforced disappearances, are committed with impunity.”
Critics have long alleged that there is a tension between US rhetoric around human rights and democracy in the Middle East and its willingness to supply billions of dollars worth of arms to allies with poor records in those areas.
El-Sisi came to power in 2013 through a military coup that ousted Egypt’s elected leader, Mohamed Morsi. The U.S. quickly resumed military assistance afterward despite a deadly crackdown on protests calling for the reinstatement of the democratically elected government.
