Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will pay a state visit to France from Sunday to Monday, during which he will be received on Monday by Emmanuel Macron, the Elysee announced on Thursday (December 3rd).
Read also: From Cairo to Aswan, the great trip to Egypt
This visit, which follows the French president's trip to Egypt in January 2019, aims to strengthen relations between Paris and Cairo, a “
strategic partner
” and “
essential for stability
” in the Middle East, the same source said. .
The two presidents will meet on Monday at the Elysee on regional crises, in particular in Libya and tensions in the eastern Mediterranean, linked according to the two countries to the actions of Turkey.
During his visit, Sissi will also be received by Jean-Yves Le Drian, the head of diplomacy, who recently traveled to Cairo to call for "
appeasement
" in the controversy caused by the publication of the prophet's cartoons. Mahomet in the French press.
After receiving President Sissi in Paris in October 2017, Emmanuel Macron visited Egypt in January 2019, a visit during which the two leaders signed a series of contracts, in particular for the Cairo metro, but also publicly accepted their disagreements on human rights.
Egypt has notably become an important customer for France in the field of armaments, in particular after having bought 24 Rafale fighter jets.
An "ultra-oppressive" regime for human rights defenders
Elected president in 2014, a year after the army's dismissal of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, Sisi was re-elected in 2018 and heads a regime considered authoritarian and ultra-repressive by his opponents and rights defenders. humans.
Read also: Egypt: Amnesty denounces a "frenzy of executions"
In view of his visit to Paris, around twenty organizations, including FIDH, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, appealed to Emmanuel Macron to “
put pressure
” on his counterpart in order to obtain his release. human rights activists "
arbitrarily
"
detained
in the country.
They denounce in particular the arrest in mid-November of three officials of the Egyptian NGO EIPR (Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights).
>> SEE ALSO -
Emmanuel Macron meets Egyptian President al-Sisi (01/28/19)
