US To Financially Punish Egypt for Protests against Anti-Islam Film
US will punish Egypt for protests that erupted over the anti-Islam film.
According to US Washington Post daily, "the protests that erupted in Cairo over an anti-Islam Internet video have stalled talks on relieving $1 billion worth of Egyptian debt to the United States."
The debt relief was intended to provide crucial economic aid to Egypt's newly elected government as it grapples with daunting economic challenges in the wake of the 2011 uprising that toppled longtime president Hosni Mubarak.
But the daily cited Monday US officials as saying "Egypt can expect little relief - at least until after the November 6 US presidential vote - after Cairo's delayed response to last week's violent protest outside the US embassy in Cairo and as similar demonstrations continue across the region."
"Folks are going to wait and see how things materialize both with the protests and on Capitol Hill," it quoted a congressional aide as saying.
In parallel, the newspaper reported that "the delay was likely to be temporary, and that there was no major reconsideration of US aid to Egypt, which amounts to some $1.5 billion per year."
State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland had earlier told reporters that the administration was working with Congress on aid to support "forces of moderation, change, democracy (and) openness in Egypt."
Source: WP, Edited by moqawama.org
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