Wary US unlikely to restore full Egypt aid soon

WASHINGTON: As Egypt prepares to swear in its fourth leader since 2011, a huge slice of $1.5 billion in US aid remains in deep-freeze amid fears the nation is sliding back into authoritarianism.

Former general Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will be crowned as the next president on Sunday after three years of political turmoil since the ousting of long-time iron-fisted leader Hosni Mubarak.

But far from welcoming Sisi as a step toward stability, some analysts are urging Washington to re-think its decades-old, military-based aid program amid concerns over human rights abuses and a crackdown on civil liberties.

In a sign of Washington´s unease, no senior US cabinet members will be attending the inauguration, with State Department Counselor Thomas Shannon asked to lead the delegation.

US officials announced in April they planned to resume some military aid to Cairo, suspended late last year, including 10 Apache helicopters for counterterrorism efforts in the Sinai peninsula.

But the aircraft remain in storage in the US, and a request to release some $650 million of the frozen aid has been put on hold in Congress by Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy, chairman of an appropriations subcommittee.

Leahy said he was "extremely disturbed" by Egypt´s "flouting of human rights" and would not sign off on delivering the aid "until we have a better understanding of how the aid would be used."

But there are also no current plans to unblock the rest of the suspended 2014 funding, which includes some military hardware such as Harpoon missiles and parts for Abram tanks.

Under legislation penned by Leahy, Kerry has to certify Egypt is on the path to democracy before all the aid can be released.

"There´s no timeline for when we have to make additional decisions about the assistance we haven´t yet certified for Egypt," State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf said, stressing there was "more work to do" and the administration was not "satisfied" about the pace of democratic progress.

While the US was ready to work with Egypt on badly-needed economic reforms, Harf was also non-committal on whether Washington would join a donors´ conference proposed this week by Saudi Arabia.

The Gulf kingdom, together with the United Arab Emirates, has vowed to pump some $10 billion into the Egyptian economy.