Report fuels debate over Egypt aid
From correspondents in Washington
The Daily Telegraph (UK)
May 13, 2006
A CONGRESSIONAL report released overnight has raised questions about the value of US military aid to Egypt, fuelling a debate about assistance to one of Washington's key Middle East allies.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) report came at a time when the administration and some lawmakers have expressed growing displeasure over Cairo's democratic backsliding and raised the prospect of aid cuts.
Congress's watchdog agency did not touch on human rights considerations but complained that from a technical point of view there was no way of assessing whether the military funding was being used effectively.
Egypt, a leading recipient of US economic and military aid, has received more than $US60 billion since 1979, including $US34 billion in foreign military financing (FMF) credits to buy US materiel and services.
But the GAO said, "Although officials and several experts assert that the FMF program to Egypt supports US foreign policy and security goals, State and DOD (Department of Defence) do not assess how the program specifically contributes to these goals."
It said maintaining Egyptian-Israeli peace, assuring access to the Suez Canal, support for humanitarian efforts in Sudan's blood-stained Darfur region and help in training Iraqi security forces were all valid strategic aims.
But although Egypt has used the aid to buy Apache helicopters, F-16 aircraft and M1A1 tanks, the GAO complained the Pentagon lacked ways of gauging progress in assuring interoperability of equipment and modernizing the force.
"Without a common definition ... it is difficult to measure the extent of current and desired levels of interoperability," the report said.
"Nor is it clear how the Egyptian military has been or could be transformed into the modern, interoperable force articulated in the US goals for the Egypt FMF program."
The GAO recommended that the secretaries of state and defence study the impact of possible changes in future FMF grants and conduct periodic reviews of the program, defining benchmarks and targets.
The report came out a day after the State Department said it was "deeply concerned" by the latest police crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Egypt and suggested Cairo's slow pace of reforms could affect its US aid.
The United States had already taken President Hosni Mubarak's government to task over the conduct of recent elections, the detention of leading opposition leader Ayman Nur and a move to extend emergency laws for two years.
"We have noted our serious concern about the path of political reform and democracy in Egypt," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said after Thursday's incidents.
Officials said that while the US administration did not back cutting the $US2 billion in annual economic and military assistance provided to Egypt, Congress might react.
"They got the vote and there is a lot of discussion up on Capitol Hill right now about this very issue," said a senior State Department official, who asked not to be named.
"Foreign governments also need to understand the relationship between the legislative and the executive and the role of the legislative in apportioning funding for these kind of programs," Mr McCormack said.
The Daily Telegraph (UK)
May 13, 2006
A CONGRESSIONAL report released overnight has raised questions about the value of US military aid to Egypt, fuelling a debate about assistance to one of Washington's key Middle East allies.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) report came at a time when the administration and some lawmakers have expressed growing displeasure over Cairo's democratic backsliding and raised the prospect of aid cuts.
Congress's watchdog agency did not touch on human rights considerations but complained that from a technical point of view there was no way of assessing whether the military funding was being used effectively.
Egypt, a leading recipient of US economic and military aid, has received more than $US60 billion since 1979, including $US34 billion in foreign military financing (FMF) credits to buy US materiel and services.
But the GAO said, "Although officials and several experts assert that the FMF program to Egypt supports US foreign policy and security goals, State and DOD (Department of Defence) do not assess how the program specifically contributes to these goals."
It said maintaining Egyptian-Israeli peace, assuring access to the Suez Canal, support for humanitarian efforts in Sudan's blood-stained Darfur region and help in training Iraqi security forces were all valid strategic aims.
But although Egypt has used the aid to buy Apache helicopters, F-16 aircraft and M1A1 tanks, the GAO complained the Pentagon lacked ways of gauging progress in assuring interoperability of equipment and modernizing the force.
"Without a common definition ... it is difficult to measure the extent of current and desired levels of interoperability," the report said.
"Nor is it clear how the Egyptian military has been or could be transformed into the modern, interoperable force articulated in the US goals for the Egypt FMF program."
The GAO recommended that the secretaries of state and defence study the impact of possible changes in future FMF grants and conduct periodic reviews of the program, defining benchmarks and targets.
The report came out a day after the State Department said it was "deeply concerned" by the latest police crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Egypt and suggested Cairo's slow pace of reforms could affect its US aid.
The United States had already taken President Hosni Mubarak's government to task over the conduct of recent elections, the detention of leading opposition leader Ayman Nur and a move to extend emergency laws for two years.
"We have noted our serious concern about the path of political reform and democracy in Egypt," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said after Thursday's incidents.
Officials said that while the US administration did not back cutting the $US2 billion in annual economic and military assistance provided to Egypt, Congress might react.
"They got the vote and there is a lot of discussion up on Capitol Hill right now about this very issue," said a senior State Department official, who asked not to be named.
"Foreign governments also need to understand the relationship between the legislative and the executive and the role of the legislative in apportioning funding for these kind of programs," Mr McCormack said.
posted by Hanan Elbadry at 7:32 PM
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