Trump to ‘reboot’ Egypt ties in Sisi visit after years of tension

CAIRO: Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi meets his counterpart and admirer Donald Trump in Washington on Monday for a "reboot" of relations following years of tension with the American president’s predecessor.

The former reality television star and tycoon has made no secret of his admiration for Sisi, an ex-army chief who overthrew Egypt’s Islamist president in 2013 and cracked down on his supporters.

Mohamed Mursi’s ouster, a year after he had won Egypt’s first democratic election, and the ensuing crackdown on Islamists prompted then US president Barack Obama to suspend military aid to Cairo temporarily.

But when Sisi meets Trump during his first state visit to Washington, he will see a partner who better appreciates his "mission" to fight Islamists and Jihadists, without Obama’s hand-wringing over human rights.

Sisi has "led Egypt’s campaign to defeat a long-running terrorist threat in the Sinai", a US administration official said in a briefing on Friday.

Trump "wants to use President al-Sisi’s visit to reboot the bilateral connection", he said.

Sisi left for Washington on Saturday and will meet cabinet members and lawmakers ahead of Monday’s meeting with Trump, his office said.

When the two met in September, they walked away praising one another, with Sisi saying Trump shows "deep and great understanding" of the region.

And Trump gushed about his "chemistry" with Sisi.

"He’s a fantastic guy. Took control of Egypt, and he really took control of it," he told Fox Business of the period after Mursi’s overthrow which saw hundreds of Islamist protesters killed and thousands detained.

Ahead of Sisi’s trip, five US senators announced they would introduce a bipartisan resolution supporting Egypt, but demanding an end to a crackdown on civil society groups and the release of American-Egyptian Aya Hejazy.

The United States administration official said Washington will approach rights issues in a "private, more discreet way".

It will also push for the release of Hejazy, who ran an NGO for homeless children and has been detained since 2014 on human trafficking charges. Her verdict is expected on April 16.

Over the past three years, Sisi has met a trickle of delegations from American think-tanks and other groups, drumming home the importance of supporting him.

Cairo had demanded Western countries take a tougher stance on Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood movement, something Trump’s administration has suggested it could consider.

"Beyond Sisi being thrilled that Trump replaced Obama, and the opportunity to turn a page, this is Egypt trying to reassert itself in a more central way to US Middle East strategy," said Issandr El Amrani, the International Crisis Group’s North Africa director.