Egypt: social networks in turmoil and unease of NGOs after the revelations of Disclose
French President Emmanuel Macron welcoming his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sissi at the Élysée Palace in Paris on December 7, 2020. REUTERS - GONZALO FUENTES
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
The investigation of the investigative media Disclose, accusing Egypt of having diverted from their objective information provided by the services of the French army to fight terrorism on the Libyan border, has become a trend on Egyptian social networks .
On the NGO side, the few human rights defenders are stunned by the revelations that have been cascading since Sunday.
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According to Disclose, the Egyptian authorities have used anti-jihadist information to target all kinds of objectives, from smugglers to illegals.
The information, described as a "
state scandal
", was first spread in Egypt through networks, with the media in Cairo remaining silent.
When a firewall was set up to prevent access to the
Disclose
site
, Internet users offered bypass links.
► To read again: Did the French army help Egypt track down civilians?
Others have added often unverifiable information on people "liquidated" by reprisals between 2016 and 2018, specifies
our correspondent in Cairo,
Alexandre Buccianti.
🔴 Torture, arbitrary executions, enforced disappearances ...
Secret notes obtained by @Disclose_ngo show that the French state was informed day by day of the repression in Egypt by its diplomats.
Revelations.
#EgyptPapers https://t.co/uQG0KhVb9y
- Disclose (@Disclose_ngo) November 25, 2021
During this period, terrorist attacks killed dozens of civilians and soldiers near the Libyan border.
This resulted in the hashtag "
they will kill you and say you are a terrorist
", aimed at condemning the Egyptian power.
But the case also splashed France on the networks, where opponents stressed the complicity of Paris with the power of Abdel Fattah al-Sissi.
What revive another hashtag, "
boycott of French products
", which began to run out of steam more than a year after its launch.
► Listen again: Misappropriation of French aid by Egypt, "the backdrop of cooperation"
Unease among human rights defenders
Within the ECRF, one of the last human rights NGOs in Egypt, we feel a certain unease following the information revealed by Disclose.
France is one of its main supporters, but today, its director Mohamed Lotfi feels betrayed, he confides at the microphone of our
correspondent in Cairo
,
Edouard Dropsy
.
“
As an ally of the Egyptian people, before being an ally of the Egyptian government, we must stop this.
And we have to revise this whole situation to come out with an image that will restore the imagination of the Egyptians on the French Republic and the values it represents
”
Despite the relations that bind him to France, he demands that all the light be shed in this affair.
"
If we in Egypt, and we as an Egyptian NGO, we do not see concrete measures of internal investigation and also I hope international in what has been revealed, we will feel that the confidence, indeed, in them. French institutions will decline.
"
Since Sunday, no reaction from the French authorities, in Cairo as in Paris, has come to confirm or deny these revelations.
Thus sowing confusion among the allies of France
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France
Egypt
Emmanuel Macron
Abdel Fattah al-Sissi
Defense