The Egyptian government has signed a lucrative deal with South Korea to allow the purchase and shipping of artillery weapons to Cairo.

According to South Africa-based digital newspaper, The Continent, the deal sailed through on Tuesday this week.

The agreement is rated as the biggest export contract that South Korea has ever signed for the particular guns Egypt wants: K9 self-propelled howitzers.

People familiar with the contract signing say the K9 self-propelled are artillery weapons that resemble tanks.

In September 2021, United States President Joe Biden withheld $130 million worth of military aid to Egypt on a condition that the country takes specific steps to address human rights abuses.  

“What the Biden administration has really done is waive the minimal human rights conditions imposed by Congress on a fraction of U.S. aid, while keeping a small portion of $130 million blocked on even more watered down conditions,” Sarah Leah Witson, executive director of advocacy group Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN) was quoted by Reuters to have said.

In January this year, the North African country penned another $2.5-billion arms agreement with the United States, further laying bare the mixed messages coming from the West.

The possible sale, which was yet to be finalised, includes 12 Super Hercules C-130 transport aircraft and related equipment worth $2.2bn, and air defence radar systems worth an estimated $355m.

In a statement, the State Department claimed that the proposed sale was not related to the withheld military aid to Cairo.

“The proposed sale will support the foreign policy and national security of the United States by helping to improve the security of a major non-NATO ally country that continues to be an important strategic partner in the Middle East,” the State Department said on Tuesday.

“We maintain that our bilateral relationship with Egypt will be stronger, and America’s interests will be better served, through continued US engagement to advance our national security interests, including addressing our human rights concerns,” it added.