CAIRO: Presidential spokesman Suleiman Awad said that the $213 million decrease in US economic aid to Egypt this year was a result of conditions that were rejected by Egypt.
Awad said it was a unilateral decision by the United States to cut economic assistance to Egypt from $413 million to $200 million as a result of Egypt’s refusal to adhere to certain conditions attached to the aid.
“Egypt refuses not just from the United States but from any other international partner, to have economic assistance tied to any conditions, and this is a clear Egyptian position, he said.
Awad pointed out that the US government operations package for 2009 was put out by the previous US administration and thus the conditions attached to the aid had been set by the administration of former President George Bush. He added that there had been no time to coordinate with the current US administration over this year’s aid package.
$1.5 billion was the total earmarked for aid to Egypt this year, $1.3 billion in military aid and the rest in economic assistance.
Egypt is the second biggest recipient of annual aid from the US after Israel. Egypt has been receiving aid annually from the United States under the Camp David Peace accords but under the terms of the agreement, the aid depreciates by five percent every year. Military aid has remained constant, with the cuts being in the area of economic assistance.
The conditionality on aid was a source of tension between Egypt and the previous American administration and at one point $100 million of US assistance to Egypt was frozen by the Senate.
The previous administration had wanted to see improvements in the human rights record and border security with Israel. Egypt had reacted strongly, indicating it did not tolerate interference in its internal affairs.
The freeze was later rescinded by then Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
US Congressman Anthony Weiner has introduced two bills, the latest in February, calling for an end to US military aid to Egypt because it has allegedly not complied with the Camp David Accords.
The bill proposes sending the annual amount earmarked for military aid to Egypt in the form of economic aid instead. None of the bills have made it past the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs as of yet.
