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Three French made Rafale fighter jets fly in formation with other Egyptian air force warplanes, above Cairo, on Tuesday, July 21, 2015. Egypt took delivery of three Rafale fighter jets from France, the first of 24 warplanes purchased as part of a nearly $6 billion deal that also included an advanced frigate and munitions. (AP Photo/Ahmed Abd El Latif)
PARIS (AFP) France has agreed to sell 30 more Rafale fighter jets to Egypt, a source close to the contract said on Monday, confirming an online report of a secret mega-defense deal.
Investigative site Disclose, citing confidential documents it had obtained, said the deal had been signed on April 26 at the behest of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi as part of defense contracts worth almost four billion euros ($4.8 billion).
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PARIS (Reuters) - Egypt has signed a contract with France to buy 30 Rafale fighter jets, its defence ministry said in a statement early on Tuesday, in a deal that investigative website Disclose said on Monday was worth 3.75 billion euro ($4.5 billion).
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President Emmanuel Macron said in December he would not make the sale of weapons to Egypt conditional on human rights because he did not want to weaken Cairo’s ability to counter terrorism in the region, a comment that drew the ire of critics.
Egypt’s defense ministry said the deal would be financed through a loan to be re-paid over at least 10 years, but did not disclose the value of the deal or further details.
France to sell Egypt 30 fighter jets in $4.5 billion deal -Egyptian defense ministry, report Reuters 3 hrs ago
By John Irish
PARIS (Reuters) - Egypt has signed a contract with France to buy 30 Rafale fighter jets, its defence ministry said in a statement early on Tuesday, in a deal that investigative website Disclose said on Monday was worth 3.75 billion euro ($4.5 billion).
President Emmanuel Macron said in December he would not make the sale of weapons to Egypt conditional on human rights because he did not want to weaken Cairo s ability to counter terrorism in the region, a comment that drew the ire of critics.
Egypt s military has confirmed it ordered 30 Rafale jets from French defence firm Dassault Aviation to shore up national security .
The order, which follows the 2015 purchase of 24 Rafale jets, will be financed through a 10-year loan, the military said in a statement late Monday.
Investigative site Disclose had reported earlier Monday that the order was part of a secret mega-defence deal worth almost four billion euros ($4.8 billion).
Egypt is the world s third biggest arms importer after Saudi Arabia and India, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
Its arms purchases grew by 136 percent over the last decade and it has diversified its sourcing beyond the United States, buying military equipment from France, Germany and Russia, the institute said in a report released earlier this year.
Tuesday 04/05/2021
A2019 file pictures of Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri standing with German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas (L) as they show a recovered historical atlas that was reportedly smuggled out of Egypt. (AFP)
The regional crises facing Egypt demonstrate that Cairo needs a new foreign policy.
Though it has succeeded in weaving a large network of relations with various powers, this has not helped Egypt solve the regional problems it faces. Most of them are still unresolved or in limbo.
Regional and international transformations have had their impact on Egypt and other countries who have found that disputes have limited the strength of their traditional foreign policies.