Trump looks to rebuild Egypt relations with Sisi visit

Donald Trump will host Egyptian president Abdel Fattah El Sisi on his first visit to the White House since taking power in 2013.

President Abdel Fattah El Sisi with Saudi Arabia's King Salman at the Arab League summit in the Jordanian Dead Sea resort of Sweimeh on March 29, 2017. Mr El Sisi will meet with Donald Trump on MondayShow more

NEW YORK // The Trump administration says it will back away from public criticism of Egypt’s human rights record as it seeks to rekindle relations with a country regarded as a key partner in the fight against violent extremist movements.

Officials signalled the move as Donald Trump prepared to host Egyptian president Abdel Fattah El Sisi on his first visit to the White House since taking power in 2013.

Along with tackling ISIL, they are expected to discuss a range of economic and security issues, including whether Washington should follow Cairo in declaring the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organisation.

Human rights remain a concern but, “our approach is to handle these types of sensitive issues in a private, more discreet way”, said a senior White House official.

“And we believe it’s the most effective way to advance those issues to a favourable outcome.”

White House officials have repeatedly said they want to strengthen alliances with regional countries fighting ISIL and traditional US Arab allies. They are critical of former president Barack Obama’s approach, which frequently imposed human rights conditions on arms sales or other forms of support.

The administration said last week it planned to drop such stipulations on a multibillion-dollar sale of F-16 fighter jets to Bahrain, home to the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet.

Meanwhile, the US is also considering increasing its support to the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthi movement in Yemen.

In a briefing, administration officials said the US president wanted to back Mr El Sisi’s progress on tackling terrorism in the Sinai peninsula, where an ISIL branch is active, and in reforming the economy.

“And he wants to use Mr El Sisi’s visit to reboot the bilateral relationship and build on the strong connection the two presidents established when they first met in New York last September,” said one official.

Mr El Sisi was due to arrive in Washington on Saturday before his White House visit on Monday. He is the latest Middle East leader to arrive in the US capital, following Saudi deputy crown prince Mohammed bin Salman and Iraqi prime minister Haider Al Abadi.

Jordan’s King Abdullah is due to follow later this week.

Mr El Sisi’s visit has raised hopes of a new era in cooperation with the US. In Cairo, newspapers have been talking up a budding bromance between the two leaders.

The country has long been one of Washington’s closest allies in the Middle East, receiving $1.3 billion (Dh4.78bn) in US military aid each year.

But that relationship has been buffeted by Egypt’s internal turmoil, including an Islamist insurgency that has killed hundreds of soldiers and police.

On Saturday, a booby-trapped motorcycle exploded outside an Egyptian police training centre in the Nile Delta city of Tanta, wounding 16 people, the interior ministry said.

American aid was frozen in 2013 when Mr El Sisi, then the military chief, seized power during mass protests against the rule of Mohamed Morsi. Mr Morsi, a leading figure from the Muslim Brotherhood, had come to power in elections held after the 2011 uprising that ended Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year reign.

The relationship with the US was strained further when Mr Obama publicly criticised Mr El Sisi for cracking down on the Muslim Brotherhood.

Human rights groups believe that at least 40,000 political prisoners have been detained.

Perhaps as a result, Mr Obama never extended a White House invitation to Mr El Sisi.

In contrast, Mr Trump’s administration is staffed with several advisers who want the US to follow Egypt’s lead in designating the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist group. So far, however, the state department has thwarted the plan, arguing the group’s fragmented structure and political activity would complicate any such designation.

A senior White House official confirmed the topic was likely to be discussed in Monday’s meeting.

“We, along with a number of countries, have some concerns about various activities that the Muslim Brotherhood has conducted in the region,” he said. “But that’s going to be a discussion that will unfold between us and Egypt.”

However, the decision not to publicly criticise Egypt’s human rights record provoked concern among campaigners in the US who fear not enough is being done to tackle the root causes of terrorism.

Neil Hicks, of Human Rights First, said: “President Trump says he wants to focus bilateral talks on security, but what drives insecurity in Egypt is the government’s harsh repression.

“When human rights are not protected, instability fuels the very extremism that President Trump says he is trying to combat.”

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