EGYPT-KERRY/SHUKRI NEWSER UPDATE US, Egypt return to "stronger base" in relationship - Kerry

Record ID: 145415

  • Title: EGYPT-KERRY/SHUKRI NEWSER UPDATE US, Egypt return to "stronger base" in relationship - Kerry
  • Date: 2nd August 2015
  • Summary: CAIRO, EGYPT (AUGUST 2, 2015) (REUTERS) U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE JOHN KERRY, EGYPTIAN FOREIGN MINSTER SAMEH SHUKRI SEATED FOR NEWS CONFERENCE JOURNALISTS KERRY, SHUKRI SEATED DURING NEWS CONFERENCE EMBLEM OF EGYPTIAN MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS (SOUNDBITE) (English) US SECRETARY OF STATE, JOHN KERRY, SAYING: "Let me be very clear: the United States has labelled Iran the num
  • Embargoed: 17th August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Egypt
  • Country: Egypt
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVADFE41K4DV1AYJXZEODT04HMJU
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: The United States and Egypt are returning to a "stronger base" in their relationship despite tensions and concerns over human rights, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Sunday (August 2) at the first strategic dialogue between the two sides since 2009.
    US-Egyptian relations cooled considerably after Islamist president Mohamed Mursi was ousted in 2013 by the military amid mass protests against his rule.
    Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri told a joint news conference with Kerry in Cairo his country had no major disagreements with the United States but that there were "differences in points of view over some issues, which is natural".
    Despite US concerns about Egypt's lagging democratic reforms, Cairo remains one of its closest security allies in the Middle East, an increasingly crucial role in a region beset by turmoil in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Libya.
    Kerry said a nuclear deal between world powers and Iran agreed last month would contribute towards making the region safer.
    "Let me be very clear: the United States has labelled Iran the number one state sponsor of terror in the world and the United States has taken steps over the course of the last years to try to deal with the reality of the destabilising choices that have been made. But I have one simple fact to put in front of everybody: if Iran is destabilising, it is far, far better to have an Iran that doesn't have a nuclear weapon, than one that does," he said.
    "So I am absolutely convinced that Egypt, Israel, the Gulf states - every country in the region - is safer with one year breakout, for ten years, than two months and safer with inspections and safer with reductions of the stockpile and safer with an adopted process under the NPT (Non-Proliferation Treaty) that Iran has to live by for the lifetime of this agreement," he added.
    Kerry said the talks had also tackled increased cooperation on border security with neighbouring Libya and that he and Shukri had agreed on the importance of ensuring "free, fair and transparent" parliamentary elections due by the end of the year after long delays.
    While Washington has praised former general Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who led Mursi's overthrow and was elected to succeed him, for the stability he has brought to Egypt, it has also cautiously criticised Egypt's human rights record and a crackdown on Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood.
    The Egyptian government says the Brotherhood is a threat to national security and denies all allegations of abuse, but its crackdown has extended to liberal activists and journalists.
    A Cairo court on Sunday postponed giving its verdict in the retrial of Al Jazeera television journalists accused of aiding a terrorist organisation, a reference to the Muslim Brotherhood.
    But Shukri said no journalists in Egypt were in jail over their reporting.
    "They are all in the state of due process by a judicial competent authority and are afforded all forms of defence to deal with these accusations. So none of these journalists are held on the basis of any expression that they have made or in relations to their profession as journalists," he said.
    A prison census conducted by the Committee to Protect Journalists on June 1 found at least 18 Egyptian journalists were being held in jail for reasons related to their reporting.
    A government source at the time said that the numbers were not accurate.
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