In Major Shift, Trump Taking Egypt's Human Rights Issues Private
Source: The New York Times
WASHINGTON — The White House signaled on Friday that it would no longer allow human rights issues to become a public point of conflict with Egypt, another striking shift away from years of American foreign policy by presidents of both parties.
As President Trump prepares to host President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt on Monday for his first visit to the White House since seizing power in Cairo in a military takeover in 2013, aides said the two leaders would focus on security and economic matters. Although the aides said human rights remained a concern, Mr. Trump prefers to deal with those issues in private.
The decision to sideline human rights issues in Egypt publicly comes just days after the Trump administration told Congress that it would lift human rights conditions imposed by President Barack Obama’s administration and resume arms sales to Bahrain, another critical ally in the Middle East and host country of the United States Navy’s Fifth Fleet.
Taken together, the moves reinforce the message that Mr. Trump plans to make security cooperation the cornerstone of the American approach to the region, without human rights becoming an obstacle, unlike President George W. Bush, who also emphasized the development of democracy, or Mr. Obama, who pressed autocratic states to ease repression.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/31/world/middleeast/in-major-shift-trump-taking-egypts-human-rights-issues-private.html?smprod=nytcore-iphone&smid=nytcore-iphone-share&_r=0
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