Kerry renews $ 1.3 bn annual aid for Egypt

WASHINGTON: Secretary of State John Kerry last month approved $ 1.3 billion in annual US military aid to Egypt, despite concerns over democratic progress by the country’s new government, a US official said yesterday.
All such aid is “carefully considered,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters, but it was felt the funding was necessary to help “preserve important regional interests.”
On May 10, Kerry quietly approved the transfer of the annual aid, notifying the US Congress of his decision, she confirmed.
The move came well before Tuesday’s sentencing by a Cairo court that handed down jail terms and fines on 43 Egyptian and foreign NGO workers in what Kerry has denounced as a “politically-motivated trial.”
The sentences were just the latest move to raise tensions between Washington and the government of President Muhammad Mursi.
Psaki defended Kerry’s approval of aid for the fiscal year 2013 saying it was in US national security interests and helped such things as “maintaining access to the Suez Canal and the interdiction of weapons smuggling.”
Last year, the funds were held up after the Egyptian authorities first moved against the US-funded non-governmental organizations. Kerry’s predecessor Hillary Clinton finally gave the green light for the funds to be paid in March.