Washington chastises Sisi; Washington beseeches Erdogan @stevenacook, @cfr@elalusa Report w/Malcolm Hoenlein @conf_of_pres.
It warned that the cuts may have “negative consequences for the realization of common U.S.-Egyptian interests.” It did not elaborate.
However, an Egyptian presidential statement on Kushner’s meeting with el-Sissi made no mention of the aid cuts and delays, which totaled $290.7 million. El-Sissi, a general-turned-president who has repeatedly stated his admiration for Trump, showed none of the frustration expressed by the Foreign Ministry as he smiled while posing for a ceremonial photo with Kushner in the Egyptian leader’s opulent Cairo palace.
El-Sissi spoke to Kushner and his delegation about “Egypt’s keenness to continue to work on strengthening the multi-faceted relations that bind the two countries in various fields,” the statement said.
Of the $290.7 million, $195 million was military aid that the State Department said U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was not able to certify that Egypt had met the human rights criteria set by Congress in order to receive it. But because Tillerson signed a so-called national interest waiver, those funds will remain available to Egypt as long as it makes human rights improvements. Had Tillerson not signed the waiver, the money would have been returned to the Treasury by Sept. 30 — the end of the current fiscal year.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/egypt-angered-by-us-aid-cut-over-human-rights-concerns/2017/08/23/86fa7bee-886b-11e7-96a7-d178cf3524eb_story.html?utm_term=.99eb4377ca92
•http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/washingtons-unfocused-decision-on-aid-to-egypt
•http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/UNITED_STATES_MIDDLE_EAST?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-08-23-03-23-05