Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri has told Egypt's Embassy in the US to officially object to a travel warning issued this week by the US Department of State. Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid told reporters on 19 July that Egypt's ambassador in the US had been instructed to hand a “written response” to the travel warning to State Department officials in Washington. Abu Zeid described the warning as “misleading and inaccurate”. “The U.S. Department of State warns US citizens to consider the risks of travel to Egypt due to threats from terrorist and violent political opposition groups. This replaces the travel warning issued on December 23, 2016. A number of terrorist groups, including ISIS, have committed multiple deadly attacks in Egypt, targeting government officials and security forces, public venues, tourist sites, civil aviation and other modes of public transportation, and a diplomatic facility. Terrorists continue to threaten Egypt's religious minorities and have attacked sites and people associated with the Egyptian Coptic Church,” says the warning. “Terrorist attacks can occur anywhere in the country, including major metropolitan areas. In early May (2017), ISIS media threatened that places associated with Westerners, Christians, or the Egyptian military and police could be struck at any time.” In an official statement issued on 21 July Abu Zeid said “the US Department of State's recent travel warning on Egypt is misleading, inaccurate and does not reflect the situation in Egypt”. He added that “we have seen how terrorists were able to target several cities in the world but the US Department of State did not warn American citizens against travelling to these cities.” Abu Zeid told the television channel Sada Al-Balad that most of the warning detailed restrictions on the movement of US mission personnel in Egypt. “The travel ban only urges them not to travel to certain places, such as Northern Sinai,” he said. The warning specifies that “overland travel is not allowed anywhere in the Sinai Peninsula, but US Mission personnel are permitted to travel to and from Sharm El-Sheikh (in Southern Sinai) by air.” Abu Zeid objected to the warning using the phrase “violent political opposition groups”. “Any political group that uses violence should be considered terrorist. It is illogical to describe them as political opposition groups,” said Abu Zeid. Foreign Minister Sameh Soukri criticised the US travel warning for “insinuating that terrorist attacks could occur in Egypt at any time and in any place”. “This negative portrayal of the security situation in Egypt misleads foreigners about security conditions in Egypt,” said Shoukri. “While most of the terrorist operations cited took place a long time ago, the US warning gives the impression they are recent.” Shoukri said he had asked Egypt's ambassador to the US to hand a letter to the Department of State conveying Egypt's concern over the wording used in the warning. “We have urged them to be accurate and not spread misleading information,” he said. Kamal Amer, head of parliament's National Security and Defence Committee, told Al-Ahram Weekly that “the US travel warning is politicised.” “This warning, which is based on information from 2016, reflects the opinions of the administration of US president Barack Obama which acted to undermine Egypt and supported Islamist movements, most notably the Muslim Brotherhood.” “This explains why the warning refused to describe violent Islamist movements as terrorist,” claimed Amer. Amer pointed out that the vast majority of European countries have now lifted the bans they placed on direct flights to Egypt in 2015. “With the exception of Russia and the UK, European countries have refrained from issuing warnings about travel to Egypt. And Red Sea resorts such as Hurghada and Sharm El-Sheikh have received an influx of Russian and British tourists in 2017 even though Russia continued to ban direct flights to all Egyptian airports and the UK flights to Sharm El-Sheikh.” Amer argues the recent spike in terrorist attacks in Northern Sinai and some parts of the Nile Delta and Upper Egypt “should be seen as part of a routine confrontation between the government and terrorist groups”. “No foreigners or tourists have been involved in these confrontations which are confined to small areas such as the desert and mountainous parts of Northern Sinai and to Fayoum governorate.” Meanwhile, US State Department's 2016 Country Report on Terrorism, released last week, praised Egypt's efforts in combating terrorism. The report highlighted the lead President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi and the Armed Forces have taken in the war against terror. Released on 19 July, the report said Egyptian Armed Forces were continuing operations in northern Sinai in order to prevent the creation of a safe haven for terrorists. “President Al-Sisi continued to focus on the fight against terrorism in Egypt over the past year and a new anti-terrorism law was issued to toughen penalties on terror crimes,” says the report. “In 2016, the Egyptian government continued to confront active terrorist groups that conducted deadly attacks on government, military, and civilian targets throughout the country... While the overall number of attacks against civilian targets declined through the middle of the year (2016), several high-profile attacks at the end of the year indicate the threat level remains high.” According to the report, “the Egyptian Armed Forces (EAF) continued a long-term counterterrorism campaign against two ISIS affiliates, ISIL-Sinai Province (ISIL-SP) and a distinct group calling itself Islamic State Egypt (IS Egypt).” “The Egyptian government claimed to have killed thousands of terrorists. Rights groups and international media reported allegations that the Armed Forces used indiscriminate force during military operations that targeted widespread terrorist activity in the northern Sinai Peninsula, resulting in killings of civilians and destruction of property. The government did not report any civilian casualties during operations in Sinai. (There is no independent confirmation of these allegations as northern Sinai remains closed to US officials, non-governmental organizations and the press.)” Alaa Abed, head of parliament's Human Rights Committee, says the US report on terrorism in Egypt in 2016 is riddled with inaccurate information and is heavily politicised. “President Al-Sisi and senior military officials have repeated many times that the army is under strict orders to take the interests and lives of citizens into account when fighting terrorists in Sinai. President Al-Sisi has also reiterated on numerous occasions that completely eliminating terrorism in Sinai will take time because of the care security forces take to protect citizens and their property.” Abed questioned “why the report repeated allegations made by NGOs while turning a blind eye to statements issued by President Al-Sisi and senior military officials”. The report was positive about Egypt's anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism financing efforts, noting that the government has not only taken legal steps to halt terror funding but was actively pursuing steps against the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda approved by the UN Security Council, but noted that the continued funding of terrorism meant extremism posed an ongoing threat. Abed is unhappy that the report overlooked Cairo's role in standing up to Qatari funding of terrorist groups across the Middle East and speculates this “maybe because the report was compiled before Egypt and other Arab Gulf countries — Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain — cut diplomatic ties with Qatar on 5 June”. “Although US President Donald Trump has described Qatar as a historical funder of terrorism the US Department of State has not taken any action against Doha,” complains Abed. “Instead, the US has concluded $12 billion of arms sales to Qatar.” “When Egypt uncovered evidence that Qatar had paid $2 billion ransom to terrorist groups in Iraq and presented it to the UN Security Council Washington refused to show any interest in the information or take any steps towards investigating it.”
