US to cut aid to Egypt

The American news network CNN said on Tuesday that the White House is planning to cut military aid to Egypt soon because of civil rights violations in the country. Senior officials said that the Obama administration is going to take a “dramatic decision” in this regard. The cut has been prompted by an “accumulation of events”, including recent violence against protesters, dozens of whom were killed last Sunday.

“We will announce the future of our assistance relationship with Egypt in the coming days,” said a spokesman.

Although National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden confirmed that an announcement will be made soon, the United States “is not halting all military assistance”.

Washington has refused consistently to call the ousting of democratically-elected President Mohammed Morsi “a military coup”. It has continued to aid the “interim” government in Cairo since the coup in July, claiming that it is in America’s national interest to do so.

Egypt has been receiving about $1.3 billion aid from the US every year since it signed a peace agreement with Israel in 1978.