口译时事：美国白宫否认已暂停对埃及援助

2013-08-23 09:19:47来源：网络

美国白宫否认已暂停对埃及援助

　　The White House said Tuesday the Obama administration has not halt or cut off assistance to Egypt and that President Barack Obama and his national security team would discuss whether to continue or curtail the 1.5 billion U.S. dollars in annual aid.
　　Published reports suggesting the U.S. assistance to Egypt had been cut off were "not accurate," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said at a daily briefing.
　　Obama had directed his national security team to review the aid and assistance relationship with Egypt, but the review has not concluded yet, Earnest said.
　　The latest actions by the Egyptian government did not reflect "their commitment to an inclusive political process, to respect for basic human rights...continued violations of basic human rights don't make the transfer of that aid more likely," Earnest told reporters.
　　A decision would be announced after the review, if necessary, he said.
　　Obama will convene a meeting of his national security team on the issue Tuesday afternoon, but cautioned against anticipation of any major announcements to make in the immediate aftermath of the meeting.
　　Earlier in the day, the National Security Council also insisted that the Obama administration has made no final decision on halting assistance to Egypt.
　　"As the president has said, we are reviewing all of our assistance to Egypt. No policy decisions have been made at this point regarding the remaining assistance," its spokesperson said in the statement.
　　U.S. media reported late Monday that the administration had quietly ended some aid to Egypt.
　　A spokesman for Senator Patrick Leahy, who chairs the Senate's Subcommittee on the Department of State and Foreign Operations, told CNN on Monday that his office had been told that the aid to Egypt had been halted.
　　"As we noted yesterday, the State Department and Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee were told that the transfer of military aid was stopped, that this is current practice, not necessarily official policy, and there is no indication of how long it will last," an aide to Leahy reiterated in a statement Tuesday.
　　A Pew poll released Monday show, 51 percent of Americans say it is better for the U.S. to cut off military aid to Egypt, while 26 percent of Americans prefer to continue the aid in order to maintain influence in the African country.
　　The United States each year provided some 1.5 billion dollars in aid to Egypt, a long-term ally when Hosni Mubarak ruled the country. The aid included 1.23 billion dollars in U.S. military assistance and 241 million dollars in economic aid to Egypt.
　　Between 1948 and 2011, the U.S. had provided Egypt with a total of 71.6 billion dollars in bilateral aid.
　　U.S. warships need the passage of the Suez Canal. Meanwhile, it reportedly also wants to keep the 1979 Israel-Egypt peace treaty intact, promote democracy and economic growth in the country, and maintain Egyptian cooperation on intelligence against terrorist activity in the region.
　　The U.S. aid to Egypt has slid into dilemma as some U.S. lawmakers, among others, urged Washington to halt it in response to the recent situation in Egypt.
　　The State Department said it has not yet transferred 585 million dollars in military assistance and is reviewing part of economic aid to see if it should be curtailed but denied any decision to halt the aid.
　　Halting or cutting the aid to Egypt could cost the U.S. significantly.
　　The U.S. might lose 3 billion dollars, including penalties on contract cancellations, if it does so since Egypt and Israel are the two countries able to order equipment before U.S. funds to pay for them have been approved by Congress.

　　美国白宫发言人乔希·欧内斯特20日否认了美国媒体有关奥巴马政府已暂停对埃及援助的报道，称白宫国家安全团队仍在对此进行重新评估。
　　欧内斯特在例行吹风会上说，有美国媒体报道称奥巴马政府已经暂停了对埃及的部分援助，这一报道内容“并不准确”。他说，奥巴马总统已下令就援助情况重新进行评估，但评估工作尚未得出结论。白宫国家安全团队于20日下午就此举行会议进行讨论。但他没有透露会议是否作出最终决定。
　　白宫国家安全委员会发言人20日早些时候也发表声明澄清，美国媒体有关美方已暂停对埃及援助的报道不正确。
　　面对记者们反复质询，欧内斯特说，提供对外援助“又不像水龙头”，不能随时开关。
　　美国有线电视新闻网CNN等媒体19日晚报道，美国资深参议员帕特里克·莱希的发言人证实，美国已暂停部分对埃及援助。莱希的另一名助手20日又再度向CNN表示，莱希办公室的确已被告知，美国已暂停对埃及部分军事援助。
　　奥巴马15日强烈谴责埃及临时政府针对示威者采取的行动，并宣布取消两国原定9月举行的联合军事演习。奥巴马政府7月也宣布延期向埃及交付4架F-16战斗机，以示对埃及军方处理问题方式的不满。但美国政府迄今拒绝把埃及军方解除穆尔西总统职务之举称作政变，否则将必须按照美国有关法律规定停止向埃及提供每年大约13亿美元的援助。

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