Obama proposes $1.3bn aid for Egypt
WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama on Monday proposed $1.3 billion in military aid for Egypt in fiscal 2013, asking Congress to maintain the annual aid level of recent years despite the ongoing...
February 15, 2012
Obama made the proposal in his budget plan for fiscal 2013 which begins on Oct. 1, the State Department said. The amounts must be approved by Congress, where some lawmakers have called for cutting off all aid to Egypt if it does not drop accusations against the American activists and lift the travel ban on them, according to Reuters.
Nineteen Americans were among 43 foreign and local activists banned from travel and referred to criminal court on accusations of working for organizations operating in Egypt without proper licenses and which had received foreign funds illegally.
Washington asked Egypt to lift the travel ban on the US citizens, some of whom have taken refuge at the US embassy. Both the White House and Congress have warned that the crackdown could threaten Cairo's $1.3 billion in annual US military aid.
State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the warning for 2012 remained in place, noting that US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had to certify first whether Egypt is making progress toward democracy.
But she added: "Let's hope we're still not in this situation in 2013."
"We do have concerns that if we can't resolve this situation it could have implications for the whole relationship with Egypt, including what we would like to do together and how we would like to support them."
Cairo prosecutors backed by police in December stormed the offices of the US-funded International Republican Institute, the National Democratic Institute and Freedom House as part of a probe into the NGO's alleged illegal foreign funding.
They were among 17 offices of local and international NGOs raided.
The crackdown was part of a wider campaign by Egypt's military rulers to silence dissent after months of criticism of its human rights record, analysts said.
