Mar 23, 2018

Today, Congress passed and President Donald Trump signed into law legislation that for the first time links US assistance to Egypt to Cairo’s military relationship with North Korea.

Buried in the massive $1.3 trillion bill to fund the government through Sept. 30 is a provision that sets new conditions on US aid to Egypt ahead of next week’s election, in which President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is all but guaranteed re-election. The bill conditions a greater portion of military assistance to progress on human rights, while seeking to shed light on shady dealings with Pyongyang that have harmed an otherwise chummy relationship between Trump and Sisi.

The bill requires the secretary of state to certify that Egypt is making progress on human rights to unlock $300 million out of $1.3 billion in annual military aid, up from $195 million previously. If the certification can’t be made, the Trump administration can exercise a national security waiver to unlock the $300 million. But it must then report to Congress on a number of issues, including Cairo’s compliance with UN Security Council resolutions opposing North Korea arms sales and weapons smuggling.

“Egypt may be working with the North Koreans on the contravention of sanctions that apply to North Korea,” said Andrew Miller, the deputy director for policy at the Project on Middle East Democracy.

“The thinking is almost certainly that if you’re going to do the waiver … [lawmakers] are going to ask the State Department to argue why,” Miller told Al-Monitor. “It’s not in the interest of the United States to provide aid to a nation that is one of our sworn enemies.”