$650m in US military aid to Egypt pending Congress approval

The US has allocated some $1.5 billion in aid to Egypt for the fiscal year 2014, US State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki said yesterday.

Psaki pointed out that the assistance includes $1.3 billion in military assistance, $200 million to fund economic projects and nearly $7 million for other security assistance programmes including “international military education and training, international drugs control and law enforcement, preventing proliferation of nuclear weapons, anti-terrorism, demining and related programmes”.

Psaki said: “The first part of the aid, worth $650 million, will be released upon receiving congressional approval.”

On Tuesday the US announced that President Barack Obama had agreed to supply Egypt with 10 Apache helicopters to support counterterrorism operations in the Sinai Peninsula.