Kerry renews annual military aid to Egypt to the bn $1,3

WASHINGTON, June 7, 2013 (AFP)

Secretary of State John Kerry 1.3 billion $ in annual U.S. military aid to Egypt, despite the worries of democratic progress by the new Government of the country, approved last month, a U.S. official said on Friday.

Any help is "carefully considered", indicate the Department Jen Psaki spokesman told journalists, but he felt that the funding was needed to "preserve the important regional interests."

May 10, Kerry quietly approved the transfer of the annual aid, by notifying Congress of his decision, she confirmed.

The move came long before sentencing Tuesday by a Cairo Court that handed down sentences of imprisonment and fines on 43 Egyptian NGO workers and foreigners in what Kerry has denounced as a "political trial."

The penalties are just the latest initiative to increase tensions between Washington and the Government of the Islamist President Mohamed Morsi.

Morsi was elected in June year last in what was presented as the first democratic elections ever to Egypt, after the former strongman Hosni Mubarak was ousted by an uprising in early 2011.

But the United States officials and others have warned that the promise of the Egyptian revolution is in danger of hostage, and Morsi opponents accuse it of governing in the interests of the Muslim Brotherhood, the party whose ticket he ran in the presidential election.

Psaki defended American approval of Kerry's aid for fiscal year 2013 by saying that it was in the interests of national security and has contributed to such things as the "maintenance of access to the Suez Canal and the prohibition of arms smuggling".

Last year, the Fund took place upwards after the Egyptian authorities first moved against non-governmental organizations financed by the United States. Predecessor of Kerry Hillary Clinton finally gave the go-ahead for the funds to be paid in March.