Egypt, France ink cooperation agreements as Sisi under pressure

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and visiting French President Francois Hollande have inked economic and military agreements amid heightened national protests against Sisi’s policies.

According to the reports, a USD 1.4-billion deal to expand the metro line in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, was among the documents that were signed during the second leg of Hollande’s tour to the Middle East on Sunday.

Hollande began his four-day visit to the region on Saturday, visiting Lebanon on the first leg of his tour and planning to visit Jordan as the last destination on Tuesday.

Paris and Cairo also signed an arms agreement worth over USD 1 billion.

Ahead of the French president’s visit, rights groups, including Amnesty International, slammed France’s silence over alleged human rights abuses in Egypt.

At a press conference that focused on allegations of abuse in Egypt, Sisi defended his country’s human rights record, saying, “The region we live in, President Hollande, is very turbulent,” addressing the French president.

​Sisi, who is accused of cracking down on opposition, also rejected the applying of “European criteria” of human rights to Egypt, which he described as a struggling country.

Hollande said, however, that, “Human rights are not a constraint but also a way to fight against terrorism.”

Meanwhile, Sisi once again blamed “evil forces” for the recent killing of Italian student Giulio Regeni in Egypt.

SS