HRW urges France to make rights central to Sisi visit

By Hajer M'tiri

PARIS

A human rights group urged President Emmanuel Macron on Monday to put human rights before business in France's relationship with Egypt, just a day before Egyptian leader Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's visit to Paris.

Sisi will make an official visit to France from Monday to Wednesday, during which he will meet Macron, ministers and the heads of the French National Assembly and Senate.

"President Macron should refuse to continue France’s disgraceful policies of indulgence toward al-Sisi’s repressive government," said Benedicte Jeannerod, head of Human Rights Watch France, in a statement.

"Saying that issues are discussed but continuing to take no action would be like sweeping the grievances and pains of Egyptians under the carpet," she added.

Sisi is also expected to meet with French businesses as well as MEDEF, France's main employers' union, to discuss economic ties and their investments in Egypt.

The two leaders -- meeting for the first time -- will discuss "common interests such as regional crises and the fight against terrorism, but also the situation of human rights to which France is particularly attentive", according to an Elysee statement released last week.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) said France "should stop ignoring Egypt’s dire rights record" and the meetings should serve as an opportunity to revise France’s economic, security, and military support to the Egyptian government, making it conditional on tangible human rights improvements.

"President Macron should not miss the chance to make a first impression on al-Sisi that Egypt’s human rights record will not be given a pass," said Jeannerod. "Continuing to support Egypt’s repressive government would betray the country’s brave activists, who face grave risks trying to make their country better."

Since a bloody military coup brought Sisi to power in 2014, relations between Cairo and Paris have been characterized by several major weapons procurement deals.

French Armed Forces Minister Sylvie Goulard met Sisi in June to discuss military and security cooperation between Egypt and France.

France was the sixth largest investor in Egypt in 2016, with an estimated foreign direct investment (FDI) stock of €3.5 billion ($4.1 billion) -- making it Egypt’s seventh largest supplier and 13th biggest customer, according to the French Foreign Ministry.

Bilateral trade between the two countries increased in the first eight months of 2017, with an increase of 9.2 percent in French exports (€1.1 billion/$1.3 billion) and 21 percent in imports (€401.4 million/$478.8 million) compared to the same period in 2016.

More than 160 French companies are based in Egypt and employ nearly 30,000 people across a wide range of sectors.

Human Rights Watch said France’s arms exports to Egypt "violate the conclusions of the EU Foreign Affairs Council, which said on Aug. 21, 2013, that European countries should suspend arms exports that could be used in internal repression."

The EU conclusions followed the bloody dispersal on Aug. 14 by the military of mass protests opposing the coup that ousted then-President Mohamed Morsi -- Egypt's first freely elected president and a Muslim Brotherhood leader.