France Sells Arms To Egypt Despite Issues Of Human Rights Violations

French President Emmanuel Macron (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

JAKARTA - French President Emmanuel Macron said concerns over human rights violations in Egypt would not affect French arms sales to Egypt. Macron argued that Egypt must maintain its ability to fight terrorism in the region.

"I will not condition issues of defense and economic cooperation on this dispute (regarding human rights)," Macron said at a joint press conference with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi.

"It is more effective to have a policy demanding dialogue than a boycott which will only reduce the effectiveness of one of our partners in the fight against terrorism," he added.

Quoting DW, Tuesday, December 8, since 2015, France has sold a large number of weapons to Egypt. France also sells two French-made Mistral-class aircraft carriers and two dozen French Rafale advanced fighter jets.

Macron had previously raised concerns that Egypt might turn to the West, China and Russia if it did not receive adequate support from Europe.

Sad Human Rights Record

The French leader's comments are likely to upset human rights groups, 20 of whom have issued joint statements ahead of a meeting condemning France's strategic partnership with Egypt.

Egypt "harshly uses counterterrorism laws to abolish legal work that supports human rights and suppress all peaceful dissent in the country," the statement said.

Since taking power in a 2013 coup, el-Sissi has been responsible for a massive crackdown targeting not only the Islamist supporters of his freely chosen predecessor, Mohamed Morsi, but also pro-democracy activists.

At a press conference, Macron said he was candid about raising human rights issues with el-Sissi. Macron also thanked el-Sissi for his support after France was the target of a boycott call in most Muslim countries. The boycott came after Macron defended the rights of caricature makers of the Prophet Muhammad.

His statement in favor of the freedom to publish such potentially contentious material comes after the murder of a teacher in France in October who showed caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad in his class during class about freedom of expression.