Archive for US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

Clinton meets Morsy, seeking Gaza truce

by admin
November 21st, 2012

 

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy on Wednesday in Cairo to discuss a possible truce in Gaza, Egypt's official news agency reported.

Clinton travelled from Israel where she had met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. On Tuesday night she pledged to work for a truce "in the days ahead."

Negotiations between the Palestinians and Israel, mediated by Egypt, have dragged on and there has been no let up in the violence.

The talks were attended by Egypt's Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr and the US ambassador, the news agency reported.

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Clinton regrets only wasted tomatoes in Egypt protest

by admin
July 17th, 2012

 

JERUSALEM — US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Monday she was "not offended" by protesters in Egypt who pelted her motorcade with tomatoes, calling the demonstrations a sign of greater freedom and anxiety, and mainly regretting what she saw as wasted food.

Asked about the assault on Sunday in Alexandria, where protesters threw tomatoes, one of them hitting an Egyptian official in the face, Clinton attributed the outburst to nervousness about the changes taking place in Egypt.

"The sooner that there can be a government that takes responsibility, whose actions can be judged and held accountable, then people will be able to draw decisions because words don't mean as much as actions and therefore I was not offended," Clinton said in Jerusalem hours after arriving from Egypt.

"I was relieved that nobody was hurt and I felt bad that good tomatoes were wasted but other than that, it was not particularly bothersome," Clinton said.

She also saw the protest as "a sign of that freer environment that Egypt now enjoys. It is also evidence that the Egyptian people are still concerned about the future."

A senior US official said neither Clinton nor her vehicle, which was around the corner from the incident, were hit by the projectiles, which also included shoes and a water bottle. The objects were thrown as US officials and reporters walked to the motorcade after her speech.

Protesters chanted "Monica, Monica," a reference to the extramarital affair conducted by Clinton's husband, former President Bill Clinton, while in the White House. Others earlier chanted "leave, Clinton," an Egyptian security official said.

Demonstrations have become common in Egypt since former President Hosni Mubarak, a longtime US ally, was brought down by mass street protests last year.

Egypt is gripped by political uncertainty as two major forces, the military and the Muslim Brotherhood, engage in a power struggle over the future of a country that remains without a permanent constitution, parliament or government.

In her speech at the newly re-opened US Consulate in Alexandria, Clinton rejected suggestions that the United States, which had long supported Mubarak, was backing one faction or another in Egypt following his ouster.

"I want to be clear that the United States is not in the business, in Egypt, of choosing winners and losers, even if we could, which of course we cannot," Clinton said.

"We are prepared to work with you as you chart your course, as you establish your democracy," she added. "We want to stand for principles, for values, not for people or for parties."

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Islamists slam Tantawi statement to Clinton

by admin
July 16th, 2012

The Muslim Brotherhood and the Jama'a al-Islamiya have criticized Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi for his statements to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in which he stressed that the armed forces would not allow a certain group to dominate Egypt and ignore the rest of the Egyptian society.

"Tantawi is trying to tarnish the image of the group in a cheap way," said Brotherhood Shura Council member Sayed Nazily. "We never said Egypt belongs to us alone."

"Tantawi is temporarily sharing power," Nazily added. "But ultimately, power will be in the hands of Mohamed Morsy, the elected president, for the army is part of the state, not above it."

Shura Council majority leader from the Freedom and Justice Party Ali Fath al-Bab said Clinton met with Tantawi in his capacity as head of the military council, which has legislative authority under the supplement to the Constitutional Declaration, issued on 17 June.  

"We reject that she should interfere in our internal affairs." he said. "Our relations after the revolution should be based on mutual respect."

Former FJP MP Nasser al-Hafy said Tantawi's statement is provocative.

"It is a deviation from the democracy that all political and revolutionary forces seek, which was expressed by the voters in the ballot boxes," he said.

"Clinton's meeting with Tantawi is a confirmation that the state is ruled by two presidents and not one with full powers, thanks to the Constitutional Declaration," he said, adding that a ship with two captains is doomed to sink, as he put it.

Hafy objected to the term "clash" between the president and the military council.

"Clash is used between two parties of equal strength, not between the president and his subordinates," he said.

Gaber al-Gahlan of the Jama'a al-Islamiya said Tantawi's statement suggests the military intends to retain power instead of returning to the barracks.

"Perhaps he got a green light from Clinton to do so," he said. "This may lead to another revolution."

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

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Egypt is focus as Clinton visits Israel after nearly 2 years

by admin
July 16th, 2012

JERUSALEM — US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Israeli officials will discuss on Monday Egypt's political upheaval, Iran's nuclear program and the stymied Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

Making her first trip to Israel in 22 months, and only her fourth visit as secretary of state, Clinton's talks will focus first and foremost on the political transition in Egypt, where the Islamist President Mohamed Morsy took office two weeks ago.

The downfall of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak last year has raised questions among Israelis about whether Egypt, the first Arab nation to have made peace with Israel, will adhere to that treaty under his Islamist successor.

Clinton flew to Israel from Egypt, where she held talks on Saturday with Morsy, a former Muslim Brotherhood member, who told her Egypt would respect its international treaties.

She also saw Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, head of the military council that took over when Mubarak was ousted and that is vying for influence with Morsy.

"At the top of [her agenda] will be her impressions and assessment of the last two days that she spent in Egypt," a senior US official told reporters on condition of anonymity.

"She is bringing a very calming message," Danny Ayalon, the Israeli deputy foreign minister, told Israel Radio. "By [the US] reckoning as well, Egypt's agenda, and certainly President Morsy's agenda, will be a domestic agenda."

"He has to rehabilitate the economy there … internal challenges that are really of utmost importance," Ayalon added. "There is no change [on Egypt's commitment to the peace treaty] and in my estimate there will not be in the foreseeable future."

Clinton anticipates a discussion about the Arab Spring, which not only brought about Mubarak's downfall in Egypt but also sparked what has become a virtual civil war in Syria, leading to instability on two of Israel's borders.

The US official said Clinton also expected to have lengthy talks with Israeli officials about the Iranian nuclear program.

The US and its allies suspect Iran of using its civilian nuclear program as a cover to develop atomic weapons. Iran denies that its nuclear work has a military dimension, insisting it is for electricity generation and medical needs.

The standoff over the issue has led the US and other major powers to adopt a two-track approach of negotiating with Iran to try to curb its program while also imposing ever harsher economic sanctions.

Israel, widely thought to be the only country in the Middle East with a nuclear weapons capacity, has made clear it could strike Iran if diplomacy fails to halt its nuclear work.

Israel’s Iran window closing

"With negotiations with Iran stalled and Israel's self-declared window for action closing, the US no doubt feels the need to keep the Israelis in lock-step with Washington through intensive high-level engagement," said Rob Danin, an analyst with the Council on Foreign Relations who also advises Tony Blair, representative of the Quartet of Middle East mediators.

White House National Security Adviser Tom Donilon visited Israel over the weekend and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is due to visit shortly, the senior US official said, describing this as part of normal, intense US-Israeli engagement.

Clinton was scheduled to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and President Shimon Peres.

She will also see Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad but not President Mahmoud Abbas, whom she met on 6 July in Paris.

US-sponsored peace talks froze in 2010 after Netanyahu rejected Palestinian demands that he extend a partial freeze on settlement construction that he had introduced at Washington's behest.

Few diplomats expect any breakthrough ahead of the 6 November US presidential election.

The senior US official said Clinton had worked hard for an Israeli-Palestinian peace and failure of President Barack Obama's administration to achieve it reflected the intrinsic difficulty of the conflict.

"Of course we would have liked to have been coming on this trip to sign a peace deal," the official told reporters.

"The fact that we have been unable to do so is a testament to the difficulty of the challenge but the fact that we're still at it is a testament to just how important the issue is to us and to her [Clinton] personally."

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Coptic leaders refuse to meet with Clinton

by admin
July 15th, 2012

Coptic leaders have declined to meet with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, saying that she is recognizing sectarian divisions by meeting with the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafis before requesting to meet with Copts.

Individuals who refused to meet with Clinton included business tycoon Naguib Sawiris, political activist Michael Mounir, former MP Georgette Qilliny and former MP Emad Gad.

A group statement issued Sunday said that since the 25 January revolution, Clinton and other US officials on visits to Egypt have held meetings with the forces of political Islam to the exclusion of other political groups. The statement claimed that the US administration has demonstrated their support for Islamism over other political and civil forces.

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Revolutionary youth reject meeting between Tantawi and Clinton

by admin
July 15th, 2012

The Union of Revolutionary Youth, a group of political activists, denounced US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s meeting with Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, the head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, in a statement on Sunday.

Clinton arrived in Cairo on Saturday, in the first visit for a US official to Egypt after the election of a new president in June. She was received by President Mohamed Morsy and held talks with her Egyptian counterpart, Mohamed Kamel Amr.

Tantawi met with Clinton and her accompanying delegation on Sunday. According to the website of the state-run newspaper Al-Ahram, the meeting tackled local and regional developments as well as ways to strengthen relations between the two countries. During the meeting, Clinton expressed Washington’s desire to strengthen relations with Egypt as a strategic partner in the region.

The Union of Revolutionary Youth rejected Clinton's meeting in an official phone call to the secretary of state, saying that it would widen divisions between President Mohamed Morsy and the military council, and would also suggest that two powers rule Egypt, the military council and Morsy. They stressed that any talks about local affairs or foreign policy should be held with the elected president.

It also called for ending the political role of the military council and for it to completely hand over power.

Dozens of political activists staged protests near the American Cultural Center in Alexandria, objecting to Clinton's visit to the city to inaugurate the US Consulate on Sunday. They claim the US is interfering in Egypt’s internal affairs.
 
The consulate was closed for nearly two decades.
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MOPCO employees, Coptic Christians protest at presidential palace

by admin
July 14th, 2012

 

Protesters returned to the presidential palace in Heliopolis Saturday after two days of relative calm, with fertilizer plant workers from Damietta and dozens of Coptic Christians staging two separate demonstrations.

The workers, from the fertilizer company MOBCO, demanded the reopening of their plant, while the group of Coptic Christians objected to the visit of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Egypt.

Hundreds of employees of MOBCO, which manufactures nitrogen fertilizers in Damietta, demonstrated directly in front of Gate 3 of the presidential palace, calling on Morsy to implement the administrative court ruling that ordered the plant, which has been closed for 8 months, to be reopened.

They also called for the police to protect them from assaults they said they have been subjected to during their sit-in.

Protesters at one point attempted to block the road next to the palace, but were stopped by police.

"You can stage a sit-in as you like, but you cannot block the road," one officer said.

Dozens of Coptic Christians also protested outside the presidential palace to reject Clinton's visit and what they called  US intervention in Egypt's internal affairs, under the pretense of protecting minorities.

The protesters raised banners that read in English: "Devil Hilary Clinton, go back to your country, leave the Egyptians in peace."

"As Copts, we reject the US secretary of state's visit to Egypt and the US intervention in Egypt's internal affairs under the pretense of protecting minorities," said Wageeh Yacoub, the organizer of the protest. "These are pretexts that the US uses to implement its agenda of dividing Egypt and the Middle East."

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

 

 
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Clinton arrives in Cairo

by admin
July 14th, 2012

 

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Cairo on Saturday afternoon for a two-day visit to Egypt. Her visit is the first for a US official to Egypt since President Mohamed Morsy was sworn in late in June.
 
Morsy will discuss with Clinton the two countries' cooperation and Washington’s contribution to support the Egyptian economy. They will also discuss the Palestinian-Israeli peace process and the situation in Syria, as well as other regional issues.
 
Clinton will also hold talks with her Egyptian counterpart Mohamed Kamel Amr, the foreign affairs minister, on bilateral relations and the crisis in Syria.
 
She will also meet with politicians from various parties and civil society representatives.
 
Clinton is scheduled to visit Alexandria on Sunday, where she witnesses the opening of a new US consulate.
 
She will then leaves Egypt for Israel, in an effort to advance the peace process.
 
Hours before her arrival, journalist and former MP Mustafa Bakri, known for his support of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, launched a sharp attack on Clinton, saying that she came “to incite against the SCAF and in support of the decision to reinstate the invalid People’s Assembly.”
 
Bakri tweeted on Saturday afternoon “Clinton's visit to Cairo aims to declare Washington's support for the rule of the Muslim Brotherhood, and to support the decree of reinstating the invalid Parliament, and to incite against the SCAF. Stands are revealed.”
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Calls made for protests against Hillary Clinton visit

by admin
July 14th, 2012

Egyptian activists called for protests against US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's visit to Cairo Saturday. Her visit is considered by some to be part of an alliance between Washington and the Muslim Brotherhood against those who want a civil state.

MP Mohamed Abou Hamed called for a protest on Saturday afternoon in front of the presidential palace in Heliopolis. He tweeted, “I invite you to participate in a Coptic protest against Hillary Clinton's visit to Egypt.”
 
Controversial TV presenter Tawfiq Okasha, owner of the Faraeen channel, called on Friday evening for human chains around the area of the American Embassy to reject Clinton's visit. He told protestors to bring eggs and tomatoes with them.
 
The Maspero Youth Union, a group dedicated to defending the rights of Egypt’s Coptic Christian minority, also called on Facebook for a mass protest in front of the US Embassy, which is in Cairo's Garden City, at 5pm on Saturday. The protest will be held under the title, “No to the alliance of the US and the Muslim Brotherhood to impose trusteeship on Egypt.”
 
The union said that the protest is a way to "a decisive national position by the people who revolted for the sake of freedom, and who therefore must stand against the violation of sovereignty caused by continual US intervention in Egyptian affairs and malicious agreements and deals between the US and the Muslim Brotherhood, led by its Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie, through private meetings held between the two parties.”
 
Clinton is scheduled to arrive on Saturday. She will meet with President Mohamed Morsy and a number of civil society figures.
 
Clinton’s visit to Egypt was described by US Ambassador to Cairo Anne Patterson as "very important."
 
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
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Clinton to visit Egypt, Israel

by admin
July 5th, 2012

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will visit Egypt this month for talks with the country's a new Islamist president, and will follow that with a stop in Israel to discuss Middle East peace efforts, the State Department said on Thursday.

Clinton's Mideast stops come at the end of a marathon trip that will start off in Paris on Friday with a meeting of the "Friends of Syria" group of Western and Arab nations that have sought unsuccessfully to curb the worsening Syrian crisis.

In Paris, Clinton will also meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to discuss the Middle East peace process, which US officials have been trying to revive following the breakdown in direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians in late 2010.

She will then fly on to Tokyo for a conference on Afghanistan, followed by stops in Mongolia, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia as part of Washington's broader effort to bolster ties with Asia as China's power grows in the region.

Clinton will head to Cairo on 14 July, becoming the most senior US official to visit Egypt since Mohamed Morsy was sworn in as president on 30 June, ending six decades of rule by former military men.

The State Department said Clinton's two-day visit was intended "to express the United States' support for Egypt's democratic transition and economic development." She is to meet senior government officials as well as civil society and business leaders and inaugurate the new US consulate in Alexandria.

US officials said Clinton was expected to meet Morsy during the trip, giving her a chance to make a personal assessment of the man Egyptians elected as their leader after the fall of former President Hosni Mubarak.

The United States has traditionally had close ties with Egypt's military, and Washington sought to use this leverage to press the country's ruling military council to make good on pledges to hand over power to a democratically-elected leader.

But Washington has also long been leery of the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood which Morsy represents, and has sought to ensure that his government will pursue a moderate course and uphold international agreements including Egypt's 33-year-old peace treaty with Israel.

Clinton will wind up the trip in Israel on 16-17 July, where she is to discuss the Middle East peace effort amid tentative signs that Israeli and Palestinian leaders are open to resuming some form of dialogue after months of stalemate.

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