Politico quoted a US official as saying that the administration of President Joe Biden decided to withhold part of the conditional military aid to Egypt, due to concerns about the human rights situation in it, and also decided to impose restrictions on the use of the remaining part of those funds.
Late on Monday, the official said that US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken was determined to take this unprecedented step, which is to refrain from using a provision authorizing him to send aid to Egypt in full, overriding congressional objections.
The United States provides Egypt with military aid worth 1.3 billion dollars annually.
Congress sets conditions related to respecting human rights on $300 million of that total amount, but the Secretary of State has the right to override these conditions and allow aid to be passed to Cairo, which is the custom.
The same source said that the Biden administration intends to pass $170 million out of $300 million to Egypt, and withhold the remaining $130 million until the Egyptian government meets unspecified human rights conditions.
He added that the 170 million would only be usable in certain aspects, such as combating terrorism and securing borders.
Politico said that this decision may not live up to the hopes of some members of Congress and activists who are concerned about human rights violations, but it may be more a victory for human rights than most of the positions taken by previous US administrations regarding military aid to Egypt.