Egyptian President in France: a State visit with many challenges

Abdel Fatah al-Sissi and Emmanuel Macron on the steps of the Elysée Palace, October 24, 2017. AP - Kamil Zihnioglu

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Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi arrived in Paris this Sunday for a two-day state visit intended to strengthen cooperation between France and Egypt in the face of crises in the Middle East.

But it will also be a question of reviving bilateral relations battered by the question of human rights.

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For the Elysee, the Egypt of Marshal al-Sisi represents a " 

 " in a region " 

 ".

In the entourage of French President Emmanuel Macron, we therefore insist on the importance of " 

 " between Cairo and Paris.

The positions of the two heads of state converge on the major regional security issues: the Libyan crisis, the ambitions of Turkish President Recep Tayip Erdogan in the Eastern Mediterranean, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the political crisis in Lebanon, issues related to the 'Iran and the situation in Iraq.

Marshal al-Sisi also presents Egypt as a barrier against migratory flows to Europe.

Not to mention its role as a bulwark against political Islamism in the Middle East.

But this is precisely where the shoe pinches.

Because in the name of the fight against terrorism, the Egyptian president " 

 ", denounce human rights organizations.

On January 27, 2019, while visiting Cairo, Emmanuel Macron was their spokesperson, regretting that the situation is not evolving " 

 " in Egypt, because of " 

 " are imprisoned there.

These statements had more than tense his Egyptian counterpart and blocked many cooperation projects between the two countries.

Today, these organizations are calling on the French president to make French military support for Egypt conditional on the release of political prisoners, whose number is estimated at 60,000.

An old case finally closed

On the eve of Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's visit, the Egyptian authorities made several gestures.

Three directors of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) have been released.

Their arrest triggered an international outcry, including France. 

The government also published the NGO law enforcement decree that had been lying around for three years, says our correspondent in Cairo,

.

This decree allowed in the wake of the release of three members of an NGO whose arrest had provoked a French protest.

The NGO that operated as a corporation applied for registration as a non-profit association and the charge fell. 

This then allowed the Cairo court of appeal, which usually takes its time, to dismiss the 2011 NGO case. Twenty Egyptian and foreign human rights NGOs, including the United States, were accused of illegally receiving foreign funds and interfering in the country's political affairs.

About forty people, Egyptians and foreigners, had been sentenced to prison terms or in absentia before being released in 2018.

This does not mean, however, that the obstacles to the work of human rights NGOs have been removed.

They must first obtain the agreement of the Ministry of Social Affairs.

Another obstacle course.

EGYPT _ Coated Sissi in Paris - Human rights MORNING

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• Egypt

• France

• Abdel Fattah al-Sissi

• Emmanuel Macron