Enormous sale prone to undergo regardless of ongoing issues over Egyptian authorities’s human rights breaches.
The US State Division has authorized the potential sale of greater than $5bn in arms for Egypt.
The State Division knowledgeable Congress on Friday that it had authorized the sale of $4.69bn price of kit for 555 US-made M1A1 Abrams tanks operated by Egypt, together with $630m in Hellfire air-to-surface missiles and $30m in precision-guided munitions.
In a press release issued that day, it mentioned the sale would help US “international coverage and nationwide safety” by serving to to enhance the safety of a “main” non-NATO ally that had acted as an vital strategic accomplice within the Center East.
Egypt and the US have labored more and more carefully for the reason that outbreak of the struggle in Gaza in October 2023, with Cairo taking part in a task in negotiating a ceasefire.
The offers come regardless of ongoing concern in Washington over the Egyptian authorities’s poor human rights file beneath President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
Rights group Amnesty estimates that Egypt at the moment holds about 60,000 political prisoners, together with British-Egyptian activist Alaa Abd El-Fattah, jailed for “spreading false information” after sharing a Fb publish about alleged police brutality.
Egypt has within the final two years pardoned tons of of political prisoners. However rights teams have mentioned at the very least 3 times that many have been arrested over the identical interval.
Giant US support recipient
US President Joe Biden took workplace in 2021 pledging a more durable line on Egypt over human rights issues, however his administration has authorized a number of arms offers.
In 2022, his administration authorized the sale to Egypt of 12 Tremendous Hercules C-130 transport plane and air defence radar programs totalling an estimated $2.5bn.
The State Division’s notification of the most recent potential sale to Congress didn’t point out {that a} contract has been signed or that negotiations have concluded.
The proposed sale would “not alter the essential army steadiness within the area”, mentioned the assertion, including that transactions associated to the Abrams tanks would take as much as a decade to implement.
The US Congress can nonetheless block the gross sales, however such makes an attempt are normally unsuccessful.
Cairo is without doubt one of the largest recipients of US safety support since its peace treaty with Israel in 1979. The most important recipient is Israel.
