| Irish Times | - |
France's
defence minister signed a €5.2-billion arms deal with Egypt on Monday,
hours after the Egyptian air force bombarded Islamic State targets in
Libya.
France concludes €5.2bn arms deal with Egypt
Paris and Cairo share disquiet at rise of Islamic State, writes Lara Marlowe
François Hollande. He telephoned Egyptian president Abdel Fatah al-Sisi to “renew the expression of his solidarity”
France’s defence minister signed a €5.2-billion arms deal with Egypt on Monday, hours after the Egyptian air force bombarded Islamic State targets in Libya.
President
François Hollande telephoned Egyptian president Abdel Fatah al-Sisi in
the morning to “renew the expression of his solidarity” after Islamic
State apparently decapitated 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians on a beach
near Tripoli. The two leaders agreed to make a joint appeal to the UN Security Council to meet to discuss IS’s territorial gains.
Mr Hollande and defence minister Jean-Yves Le Drian both spoke of “the confidence that exists between France and Egypt”.
The arms contract, which includes
24 Rafale fighter bombers, one frigate, air-to-air missiles and cruise
missiles, was negotiated in a record five months due to anxieties over
the rise of jihadist groups in Libya and the Sinai desert.
“In the present context, it is very important that Egypt enjoy security and to be able to act for stability,” Mr Hollande said.
“Libya
is just the other side of the Mediterranean, very close to us,” Mr Le
Drian said before leaving for Cairo. “We must be very vigilant and ally
ourselves with coalition countries like Egypt.”
France
used the Rafale to help overthrow Muammar Gadafy in Libya in 2011, and
to bomb Islamist targets in Afghanistan, Iraq and Mali. This is the
first foreign sale of the plane, whose production represents 7,000 jobs
in France.
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab
Emirates provided Egypt’s €500-million down payment. French banks loaned
the remainder, with a French government guarantee.
The arms sale consolidates the shift in Egypt’s strategic alliances, which began when the US abandoned former president Hosni Mubarak in 2011. France and Russia – Egypt’s allies until the 1970s – have stepped into the void.
The Egyptian military was angered by Washington’s dialogue with president Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood,
who succeeded Mubarak. Washington temporarily stopped €1.8 billion in
annual military aid when Mr al-Sisi overthrew Mr Morsi in July 2013.
Critical coverage
Le Monde newspaper angered the Hollande administration by criticising the defence minister for calling Mr al-Sisi “a head of state who was elected and is organising legislative elections”.
Mr
al-Sisi tolerates no opposition and has silenced the media. The Egyptian
police practice widespread torture and shoot demonstrators on sight.
Shimaa
Al-Sabbagh, 34, an unveiled socialist poet and the mother of a young
son, was shot dead in a demonstration on January 24th. The regime
considers all members of the Brotherhood – perhaps one- third of Egypt’s
population – to be “terrorists”.
“This regime governs through blind oppression,” said Le Monde’s
front-page editorial. “It represents the very essence of the regimes
which led to the ‘Arab Spring’, which Paris claimed to welcome.”
The French government refused to allow a Le Monde correspondent to cover the signing ceremony on Monday.
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