Trump’s ‘Favorite Dictator’ Finds a New Friend in Macron
France’s president has turned a blind eye to the faults of Egypt’s Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi.
New friends.
Photographer: Bertrand Guay/AFP
Emmanuel Macron conspicuously sidestepped an opportunity to hold Egypt’s Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi accountable for his government’s flagrant violations of human rights. Despite strong opposition from rights groups, the French president invited the Egyptian leader for a state visit. Then on Monday, during a joint press conference with Sisi at the Elysee Palace, he said that France would not make economic cooperation with — or arms sales to — Egypt conditional on human rights.
Instead, Macron talked up Egypt’s counterterrorism record, neglecting the fact that Sisi’s government routinely subjects rights activists to terrorism trials and puts political opponents and critics on “terrorism watch-lists.”