Did the French army help Egypt track down civilians?
French Minister of the Armed Forces Florence Parly has called for an investigation to be opened.
(Drawing).
AFP - NICOLAS TUCAT
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
The Minister of the Armed Forces Florence Parly has requested the opening of an investigation following the publication of an article in Disclose.
According to the investigation site, Egypt would use information provided by France to bomb traffickers on the Libyan border and not jihadists.
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The deal was originally secret.
In 2016, France and Egypt launched an operation, code name: Sirli.
Objective: to detect the presence of Islamist groups along the border with Libya.
A French team, equipped with a spy plane and a few analysts, was in charge of listening to the conversations intercepted along this particularly porous border.
It was a question of assessing the terrorist threat.
According to
the investigation site Disclose
, the French team quickly realized that the information gathered was mainly used to target civilians suspected of smuggling.
At least 19 bombings carried out by the Egyptians would thus be linked to French intelligence.
"
Strict
"
requirements
Following these revelations, the Ministry of the Armed Forces requested the opening of an investigation.
It must "cover
two parts,
" said government spokesman Gabriel Attal, at the end of the Council of Ministers.
"
Justice will be seized without delay
" on the first part, the "
flagrant violation of the secrecy of national defense
".
But the internal investigation will also have to "
verify that the rules which had been fixed for this cooperation in matters of intelligence, the measures which had been taken so that they are applied have actually been implemented
".
Within the framework of cooperation between France and Egypt in the fields of intelligence and the fight against terrorism, the use of means meets "
strict
" and "
very precisely
"
defined
requirements
, "
known to our partner. and regularly recalled,
”noted Gabriel Attal.
“
Let us be extremely clear: domestic issues unrelated to the fight against terrorism do not fall within the scope of this intelligence mission.
"
Paris finds itself in a delicate situation.
If Egypt is a key partner of France, it is also one of its biggest customers in terms of arms sales.
►
To listen: Misappropriation of French military aid by Egypt
: "the backdrop of cooperation"
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