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WORLD NEWS Monday 6 March 2017

Egypt’s Mukhabarat hires Washington lobbyists to boost image

BRIAN ROHAN tenfold in efforts to con-
Associated Press vince European countries
CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian to send it more develop-
intelligence has hired two ment and security aid to
U.S. public relations firms prevent illegal immigration
in Washington to lobby on across the Mediterranean.
the country’s behalf and It also switches between
boost its image, the first downplaying an extremist
such engagements by the insurgency in the northern
country’s powerful secu- Sinai Peninsula, or amplify-
rity apparatus to be made ing the danger, depend-
public. Filings dated Jan. ing on which position is
28 and seen by The As- most useful at a given mo-
sociated Press on the De- ment with domestic or for-
partment of Justice web- eign audiences.
site Sunday showed that The move comes as the
the General Intelligence new administration of Presi-
Service — one of Egypt’s dent Donald Trump is soft-
feared, competing intel- ening America’s approach
ligence agencies known to authoritarian govern-
as the Mukhabarat — has ments including Egypt’s,
hired public relations firms which the State Depart-
Weber Shandwick and ment last week cataloged Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi meets with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, during a
Cassidy & Associates Inc in its annual report on hu- press conference, at the presidential palace in Cairo, Egypt, Thursday, March 2, 2017. Egyptian
The registrations were re- man rights abuses. Egypt intelligence has hired two U.S. public relations firms in Washington to lobby on the country’s behalf
and boost its image, the first such engagements by the country’s powerful security apparatus to
leased publicly to com- says it faces a substantial be made public.
ply with the U.S. Foreign terrorist threat and can- (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty)
Agents Registration Act not be judged by West-
(FARA) of 1938. ern standards, although
The contracts show that it insists foreign tourists are were excessive use of force the suppression of civil lib- cluded “disappearances”
the companies will as- safe. “The most significant by security forces, deficien- erties,” State said in its re- as well as “unlawful killings
sist Egypt in promoting its human rights problems cies in due process, and port, adding that abuses in- and torture.” q
“strategic partnership with
the United States,” high-
lighting its economic de- Wave of IS car bombs targets Iraqi troops in Mosul
velopment, showcasing its
civil society and publiciz- QASSIM ZAHRA house to house and de- led coalition airstrikes have the Iraqi investigation,” the
ing Egypt’s “leading role in Associated Press ploying snipers. The wave helped destroy some of the statement said. The alleged
managing regional risks” in BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi of heavy resistance comes IS defenses, but clashes are attack occurred last week
agreements worth $1.8 mil- troops encountered the as Iraqi forces launched at- still ongoing. Al-Maturi, of in eastern Mosul, an area
lion annually. heaviest clashes yet with tacks against IS-held neigh- the federal police, said his declared fully liberated by
All points are issues Presi- Islamic State group fighters borhoods in western Mosul troops are now some 500 Iraqi forces in January. The
dent Abdel-Fattah el-Sis- Sunday in western Mosul from three points Sunday meters away from the gov- attack hit a neighborhood
si’s government is keen to since the start of the new morning. The Federal Police ernment complex. along the Tigris River, which
portray in a positive light push more than two weeks are closing in on the city’s Also on Sunday, The roughly divides the city in
in its interactions with for- ago, according to a senior main government complex Hague, Netherlands-based two. Hospital officials said
eign powers, especially a commander. Maj. Gen. in the Dawasa neighbor- Organization for the Prohi- 10 patients were admitted
key ally such as the United Haider al-Maturi of the Fed- hood and Iraq’s special bition of Chemical Weap- for exposure and would be
States that sends it some eral Police Commandos forces are attempting to ons said in a statement the discharged in the coming
$1.3 billion in annual mili- Division told The Associated push into the Shuhada and organization was “seriously days. The United Nations
tary aid. Press that IS militants dis- Mansour neighborhoods. IS concerned” about reports warned that the alleged
In other areas, Cairo has patched at least six suicide fighters have “some mortar of chemical weapons use use of chemical weapons,
a more flexible approach car bombs, which were all (teams) and snipers posi- inMosul. “The OPCW has if confirmed, would be a
to its image, for example destroyed before reach- tioned inside homes,” said asked Iraqi authorities for war crime and a serious
by overstating the number ing the troops. The militants, Iraqi special forces Maj. Ali more information and has violation of international
of refugees in the country he said, are moving from Talib, explaining that U.S.- offered its assistance to humanitarian law.q