Under Obama the former general who came to power in a coup was persona non grata in Washington but the White House says his visit is chance for a ‘reboot’

The Egyptian president, Abdel-Fatah al-Sisi, is set to visit the White House on Monday, in a clear sign of the Trump administration’s willingness to firmly embrace dictatorial regimes that the previous administration spurned.



Sisi is the first Egyptian leader to visit the White House since Egypt’s 2011 revolution, as well as the 2013 popularly backed military coup that brought him to power. Unlike Obama, who refrained from inviting Sisi to Washington, Trump has had a warm relationship since meeting Sisi on the sidelines at the UN general assembly in September 2016.

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“He wants to use President Sisi’s visit to reboot the bilateral relationship and build on the strong connection the two presidents established when they first met,” a senior White House official told reporters on Friday.

Like Trump, Sisi has been criticised for his attacks on the media, as well as demanding compliant and uncritical state institutions.

“Both leaders are energised by a focus on security, both see their countries and administrations as being unfairly targeted. Both also rode into power from outside the political elite on the back of an angry populism which seems absent of a clearly thought-out ideology,” said HA Hellyer, an analyst with the London-based thinktank the Royal United Services Institute.

The pair also share a fondness for pomp and circumstance: Trump was reported to have considered a military parade at his inauguration, while Sisi was once mocked for driving his motorcade over a 2.5-mile-long red carpet.

For Trump, Sisi’s visit provides an opportunity to tout his relationship with the leader of the Arab world’s most populous nation after a controversial travel ban targeting six majority-Muslim countries.

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His administration is also currently facing questions about whether policy changes have caused mounting civilian casualties in conflicts in Syria, Iraq and Yemen.

Trump’s choice to welcome Sisi to the White House contrasts with that of his predecessor.

The US capped the aid it provides to Egypt in October 2013, shortly after Sisi seized power, reducing it to $1.3bn in annual military assistance and preventing the sale of some larger items such as fighter jets.

The Obama administration also repeated demands for Egypt to refrain from the mass trials, widespread jailing of opponents and crackdown on civil liberties that swept Egypt under Sisi’s rule. While the aid cap was lifted in 2015, relations remained frosty until Obama’s exit.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi addresses the UN general assembly last September in New York, where he met Donald Trump for the first time. Photograph: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

But Trump has yet to publicly mention Egypt’s human rights record. “Our approach is to handle these types of sensitive issues in a private, more discreet way. We believe it’s the most effective way to advance those issues to a favorable outcome,” the White House official said.

“Trump would rather stand with a strongman against terrorism and Islamism than concern himself with Egypt’s domestic challenges – or US values at stake,” said Daniel Benaim, a senior fellow with the progressive Washington thinktank the Centre for American Progress and a former adviser to Joe Biden on Middle East issues. “He praised Sisi for forcefully taking control of Egypt, essentially blessing the crackdown that President Obama had condemned,” he added.



Trump’s win, said Benaim, presented an opportunity for Egypt to change how it is perceived in Washington even before Sisi’s arrival in the capital.

While Egypt’s government has employed the Glover Park Group since 2013 to massage its image, in January Egypt’s General Intelligence Service hired Washington lobbyists Cassidy and Associates as well as the PR firm Weber Shandwick.

Foreign Agent Registration Act filings show that the firms will be paid a combined total of $1.8m annually, despite Egypt having accepted a $12bn emergency loan from the International Monetary Fund last November.

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Egypt’s efforts in Washington have traditionally focused on increasing its share of military aid, ostensibly to improve their counter-terrorism efforts against Isis militants in the Sinai peninsula. This has often meant a push to acquire larger items such as F-16 fighter jets and M1A1 tanks – even if, experts say, such hardware is unlikely to be useful for the fight in Sinai.

“The US military has long been pushing Egypt to ‘go light and mobile’,” said Professor Robert Springborg, a visiting professor in war studies at Kings College London and an expert on Egypt’s military. “The counter-terrorism campaign in the Sinai and in Egypt proper has not achieved its objectives, due largely to harsh methods, poor intelligence and the drivers of discontent intensifying. New military equipment will not impact these shortcomings.”

Sisi continues to argue that Egypt is a key regional partner in the fight against Isis – even as observers say the results on the ground tell a different story.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest An Egyptian military vehicle patrols in northern Sinai. The military’s failings in the fight against Isis there are not due to lack of hardware, analysts say. Photograph: Asmaa Waguih/Reuters

“Egypt is apparently failing to take control of North Sinai, and what is more concerning is the spread of Isis to the central parts of the peninsula with relative success,” said Mohannad Sabry, author of the book Sinai: Egypt’s Linchpin, Gaza’s Lifeline, Israel’s Nightmare.

Internet and phone blackouts are common in northern Sinai, while foreign journalists are barred from entering the area, making the army’s claims of victory difficult to verify.

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Campaigners and human rights groups also fear that several US citizens imprisoned in Egypt will receive no mention during Trump and Sisi’s meeting.

The American NGO worker Aya Hijazi languishes in a Cairo prison awaiting a potential life sentence after being accused of running a child sex trafficking ring. Her supporters say she was simply running a children’s charity before her arrest in 2014.



“The very real human cost of embracing authoritarians is felt not only by so many Egyptians, but right here at home,” said Mohammed Soltan, whom the Obama administration worked to free from an Egyptian prison in 2015 following a 16-month hunger strike.

Soltan will now watch Sisi, the leader responsible for his incarceration, meet Obama’s successor. “This man is responsible for so much injustice,” he said.