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Kerry Says He Sees Signs That Egypt Is on Path to Democracy | |
(about 4 hours later) | |
CAIRO — In the highest-level American visit since the Egyptian military removed President Mohamed Morsi from power, Secretary of State John Kerry said on Sunday that Egypt appeared to be on a path toward democracy and emphasized that the Obama administration wanted to improve relations. | |
Delivering a generally reassuring message, Mr. Kerry noted that Egypt had faced “difficult challenges” and indicated that additional steps needed to be taken to establish an inclusive, civilian-led government. | |
In a joint news conference with his Egyptian counterpart, however, Mr. Kerry accented the positive. | |
Asked about comments he made in August in which he said that the intent of Egypt’s generals in ousting Mr. Morsi had been to restore democracy, Mr. Kerry defended the remarks. | |
“Thus far, there are indications that that is what they are intending to do,” he said, referring to the Egyptian military leadership. | |
“The road map is being carried out to the best of our perception,” Mr. Kerry added, referring to the plan by Egyptian authorities to conduct a national referendum on an amended constitution and then hold parliamentary and president elections by spring 2014. | |
“There are questions we have here and there,” Mr. Kerry said. “I think it is important for all of us, until proven otherwise, to accept that this is the track that Egypt is on and to work to help it to be able to achieve that.” | |
Mr. Kerry’s visit, which is part of an eight-nation trip, came one day before Mr. Morsi, who has been held incommunicado since he was ousted in July, was to be put on trial on murder charges. | |
Mr. Kerry is also the first senior American official to visit since the White House decided last month to withhold the delivery of sophisticated arms to signal its concern over the Egyptian military’s crackdown on dissenters and its tarnished record on human rights. | |
In a visit here lasting several hours, Mr. Kerry met with Nabil Fahmy, Egypt’s foreign minister, and Adly Mansour, the interim president. | |
The secretary of state also spoke with human rights advocates and representatives from religious, labor and youth organizations. That meeting, which was not open to the news media, provided an opportunity for civic society leaders to express concerns about the Egyptian government, and perhaps American policy. A list of the Egyptians invited to the session was not provided to reporters. | |
Mr. Kerry’s final meeting was with Gen. Abdul-Fattah el-Sisi, the minister of defense who spearheaded the ouster of Mr. Morsi. | |
Since the military takeover, Egypt’s generals have appeared to be immune to American pressure and indifferent to Mr. Kerry’s seeming endorsement of their motivations. They have also complained that the United States has shown favoritism toward Mr. Morsi and his supporters by criticizing the military government’s crackdown on Islamists. | Since the military takeover, Egypt’s generals have appeared to be immune to American pressure and indifferent to Mr. Kerry’s seeming endorsement of their motivations. They have also complained that the United States has shown favoritism toward Mr. Morsi and his supporters by criticizing the military government’s crackdown on Islamists. |
The Obama administration has refrained from categorizing the military’s toppling of Mr. Morsi as a coup, which would trigger a cutoff of its annual assistance package of $1.5 billion. But American officials have been critical of the military’s brutal crackdown on demonstrators and the detention of Morsi supporters. | |
To signal its concern, the White House in October suspended the delivery of major weapons systems, including Apache helicopters, F-16 fighter jets, Harpoon anti-ship missiles and parts for M-1 tanks, and is withheld about $260 million in support for the Egyptian budget. | |
At the same time, however, the United States has maintained support for Egypt for counterterrorism programs, including the military’s efforts to secure Sinai, which has become a sanctuary for militants. Other untouched assistance included programs to educate Egyptian military officials in the United States, the shipment of spare parts for many of the weapons in the Egyptian military’s inventory and aid for health care, education and the promotion of businesses in Egypt. | |
A senior State Department official who is traveling with Mr. Kerry said that the decision on whether to lift the suspension of major weapons deliveries would depend on steps by the Egyptian authorities to protect human rights, ensure freedom of the press, allow peaceful demonstrations and permit activities by nongovernmental organizations, among other measures. | |
But Mr. Kerry sought to play down the decision to withhold some of the assistance temporarily, casting it more as a step that was mandated by Congress than as a move to punish Egypt’s military leaders for removing a democratically elected president. | |
“It is not a punishment,” Mr. Kerry said in response to a question from an Egyptian reporter. “It’s a reflection of policy in the United States under our law.” | |
Mr. Kerry said that he had not spend a lot of time discussing the suspension of the aid in his meeting with Mr. Fahmy and emphasized that the American relationship “should not be defined by assistance.” | |
After his talks here, Mr. Kerry will head to Saudi Arabia to meet with King Abdullah in an effort to repair the Obama administration’s fraught relationship with the kingdom. | |
The Saudis have been deeply unhappy with the United States’ lukewarm support for the Syrian opposition. They are also worried that the White House may be too quick to make concessions in the newly reinvigorated talks with Iran and have solidly supported the Egyptian military’s takeover. | |
Mr. Kerry will also visit Israel and Jordan to try to encourage progress in the Middle East peace talks, which has long been his top diplomatic priority. No headway in those negotiations has been announced, and Mr. Kerry said on Sunday that Israel’s continued settlement activity had “disturbed” many people looking for signs of progress. | |
He will also make trips to the United Arab Emirates, Algeria, Morocco and Poland. | |
Kareem Fahim contributed reporting. |