Sisi: Germany should pressure countries sponsoring terrorism

CAIRO - 15 June 2017: President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi urged Germany to combat terrorism by pressuring countries that support terrorism.

Sisi's comments came in an interview with German Radio ARD about the country’s and the region’s recent challenges including the importance of combating terrorism on Wednesday on the sideline of his visit to G-20 Africa Partnership where he was invited by Angela Merkel in Berlin.

G-20 Africa Partnership tackled topics such as migration from Africa to Europe through the Mediterranean, flight control, and economic development of countries such as Egypt, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, and Senegal.

The Egyptian president also discussed terrorism under the name of Islam and human rights in Egypt including freedom of expression, saying that Egyptians are entitled to a great space of freedom where they usually express their views about any topic.

He added that combating terrorism does not only involve fighting terrorists through military means but also through the responsibility of many countries such as Germany in pressuring states who fund and support extremist groups.




Sisi stated that it is important to send clear messages to these countries that sponsor terrorism by developing a collaborative mechanism that aims to fight radical groups, extremism, and draining the financial flows to these organization, emphasizing “These mechanisms should ensure that the money should not be in the hands of these organizations.”

Egypt has cut diplomatic ties with Qatar earlier alongside with gulf countries including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, UAE, and Libya among others. Some of the countries blocked their airspace for Qatar Airways, while Qatar’s borders with Saudi Arabia were closed.
When asked if this blockade could affect the region’s stability, Sisi confirmed that the countries’ unity and stability is equally important as fighting terrorism.

Sisi does not expect war in the Gulf region, he mentioned in the interview, refuting the Federal Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel warnings against the escalating crisis that could lead to war.