US cancels $130m military aid for Egypt over rights concerns | Al Jazeera

The Biden administration has announced that it is cancelling $130m in military aid to Egypt over human rights concerns, just days after the United States approved a massive $2.5bn arms sale to the country.

The State Department said on Friday that Egypt had not met the conditions to receive the $130m in foreign military financing that has been on hold since September. It said the money would be shifted to other programmes but did not elaborate.

In announcing the cancellation, the department made no mention of the $2.5bn sale of military transport planes and radar systems that it had approved on Tuesday; the announcement for that deal had made no mention of the frozen $130m.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken in September approved the release of $300m in foreign military financing to Egypt but withheld another $130m unless the government addressed “specific human-rights related conditions” by the end of January.

“The deadline for meeting those conditions will soon pass,” the department said. “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.”