U.S. to lift hold on military aid to Egypt

CAIRO – 25 July 2018: The United States will very soon lift the hold on aid to Egypt after talks with a military delegation from the latter, a source told Ahram Online on Wednesday.

The high-profile delegation, named the Military White Paper, is currently at Washington where it held meetings with high-ranking U.S. military and security officials.

The $195 million military aid – withheld in August 2017 over allegations of human rights and democracy breaches – will be released by the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee.

The source told Ahram Online that Egypt made it clear during the talks that such a stance would send a "wrong message that U.S. counterparts do not understand the nature of the challenges Egypt is facing, including the challenge of domestic and regional terrorism.”

Egypt and Israel receive U.S. military aid as part of the peace treaty signed in 1979. The annual amount allocated for Egypt is $1.3 billion. On the other hand, Israel and the United States signed an agreement in September 2016 for the latter to provide $35 billion in defense aid over the period of 10 years.

In the same year the peace treaty was signed, Israel was receiving $8 billion economic aid yearly, while Egypt was getting $1 billion.

Egypt has refuted the claims by the United States which has pulled out of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in June for being biased against Israel.

During his meeting with the Head of the National Council for Human Rights (NCHR) Mohamed Fayek in September, President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi affirmed that Egypt will continue its efforts to maintain human rights and basic freedoms in line with confronting terrorism and protecting its national security from current dangers threatening the region.

Egypt has been engaged in a fight with terror in North Sinai since 2011 along with the January 25 Revolution. However, the attacks targeted civilians – especially Christians – and public institutions in the rest of the country after the ouster of former President Mohamed Morsi, who is affiliated with the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, in July 2013. Later on, the assaults were confined again to the border governorate.