U.S. permits allocation of aid to Egypt

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has waived U.S. congressional restrictions on military aid to Egypt’s aid, Reuters reported Tuesday.

At a joint news conference in Cairo, Rice was joined by Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit.

“I have exercised on behalf of the United States the waiver in terms of Egyptian assistance ... The Bush administration sought to have that flexibility,” Rice said. “We believe that this relationship with Egypt is an important one and that the waiver was the right thing to do.”

The initial restriction was placed on Egyptian aid as leverage to require Egypt to, as the article notes, “protect the independence of the judiciary, curb police abuses and put a stop to arms smuggling from Egypt to Gaza.”

Rice later added: “I have said to the foreign minister even today the importance the United States attaches to democracy and reform in Egypt and the importance that we attach to progress on those fronts.”

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