Egypt rejects US military aid comments

Ahram Online, Sunday 3 Aug 2014

US state department deputy spokesperson Marie Harf said US military aid to Egypt was temporarily suspended last year because Egypt had used weapons 'against their own people'

Egyptian spokesperson Badr Abdel-Atti (R) and Marie Harf, US deputy spokesperson (Photo: AP)

An Egyptian foreign ministry spokesperson has described his US counterpart as "ignorant" of Egyptian affairs.

The comment came after US deputy spokesperson Marie Harf said US military aid to Egypt was temporarily suspended last year because Egypt was using weapons "against their own people."

Harf, in a state department press briefing on Thursday, made a comparison between Israel and Egypt when a reporter asked her why the US did not suspend its military aid to Israeli, for killing civilians in Gaza, while aid was suspended to Egypt following the ouster of president Mohamed Morsi in July of last year.

Egyptian spokesperson Badr Abdel-Atti said Harf's comparison between Egypt and Israel was "unacceptable" and "unjustifiable."

Abdel-Atti said that Harf "deliberately" didn't mention the exact incident when Egyptian protesters had been suppressed using US military aid. He added that Harf's failure to mention the incident was because it was a "figment of her imagination."

He added that when the American official referred to innocent protesters, she omitted to mention, whether on purpose or out of ignorance, that those who were dealt with decisively were "carrying arms" and "terrorising innocents" in an attempt to impose their will not only on the Egyptian state but also on the will of the entire Egyptian people.

Abdel-Atti extended an invitation to Harf to clarify the situation where Egypt "used Apache and F16 aircraft against the Egyptian people or innocent protesters, especially because Egypt needs these weapons to combat terrorism that has killed many army and police personnel."

The same terrorist acts that the international community, including the US, agreed on the need to combat decisively, Abdel-Atti added.

At the time of suspending military aid to Egypt, the US cited concerns that a democratic process was not taking place in Egypt. However, following the election of El-Sisi in May, the US congress unfroze $1.5 billion in mostly military aid.