Committees on Arms ExportsLetter to the Chairman of the Committees from Alistair Burt MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Egypt and Arms Export Licensing
The presidential elections in Egypt are due to take place next month. I thought it would be helpful to provide you with a view of the current political situation, together with information on how we are handling export licence applications to that country.
Current Political Situation
There continues to be frustration among the political class about the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces’ (SCAF) handling of the transition. The Muslim Brotherhood (MB) is increasing the pressure on the interim government and threatening to call for its replacement by one based on Parliamentary representation, through a vote of no-confidence This reflects increasing public signs of tension between the MB and the SCAF.
The parliamentary elections marked an important step in Egypt’s political transition. The MB’s block, Democratic Alliance, secured about 47% of the seats in the Lower House and the Salafi alliance 24%. Secular/liberal groups have about 16%, former regime elements 3%, and other parties and independents the rest. Elections for the Upper House passed peacefully, and delivered another commanding Islamist performance: the MB secured 58% of the seats, and the Salafis 25%.
Voting for Presidential elections is scheduled for 23/24 May, final results on 21 June and handover to civilian rule by 1 July. The Supreme Presidential Electoral Committee (SPEC) announced on 14 April 12 that ten of the 23 Presidential candidates had been disqualified, including the Muslim Brotherhood candidate Khairat el Shater, former Head of Intelligence Omar Suleiman, the Salafist Hazem Abou Ismail, and the Head of the Ghad party Ayman Nour. We understand that the SPEC has now upheld rulings disqualifying all ten candidates.
On 24 March, both Houses of the Egyptian Parliament elected the Constitutional Assembly (CA) in charge of drafting Egypt’s new Constitution. Many of the liberal and secular parties walked out in protest at what they regarded as Islamist domination of the process and the nominees. On 10 April, an Egyptian Court suspended the CA—as a result of a lawsuit filed by activists and liberals. It now seems unlikely that the drafting of the new Constitution will be in place before the handover of power on 1 July. We believe it is important that the drafting of a new Constitution is completed through an inclusive process, and delivers a Constitution which represents the interests of all the Egyptian people.
There are a number of areas where we have concerns about human rights in Egypt. These include limits imposed by the authorities on freedom of expression; the use of unacceptable violence against peaceful protesters; an increase in the number of prosecutions of bloggers and activists for criticising the authorities; increasing use of military trials for civilians; virginity tests on women and allegations of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment at the hands of the security services.
In May 2010 amendments had been introduced to limit the application of the Emergency Law to terrorism and drugs crimes. However, on 11 September 2011, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) reinstated the full powers of the Emergency Law, as a response to growing concerns about the security situation, including the storming of the Israeli Embassy in Cairo.
Freedom of association has been progressively restricted over the past year, with some civil society groups, particularly those working on human rights and transparency, facing Government obstruction and harassment. This culminated in raids on 29 December against local and international NGOs accused of taking foreign funding illegally while not being properly registered. Employees of these NGOs were summoned to stand trial and placed under a travel ban. On 1 March, after intense negotiations and US lobbying, the Egyptians lifted the travel ban on some NGO staff, allowing US nationals to leave Egypt, However, broader NGO issues (registration requirements, harassment of Egyptian NGO staff) and wider concerns about the commitment of the SCAF and Egyptian government to democracy remain.
We continue to raise these and other concerns with the Egyptian authorities. Export Licences for Egypt.
You will already be aware that, as events unfolded in Egypt in February 2011, the Government urgently reviewed all existing export licence applications and those already issued. We started a revocation process within three days of the events unfolding. We revoked 36 individual licences and removed Egypt as a destination from eight open licences, with immediate effect. The goods included components for aircraft, components for armoured personnel carriers and secure communications equipment.
Subsequently we have taken steps to ensure that export licence applications for Egypt are scrutinised very carefully. Applications are assessed on a case-by-case basis, taking account of the current political situation and other events on the ground, factoring in the latest information and analysis from our Embassy in Cairo. We pay particular attention to and make a full assessment of the risk that goods might be used in internal repression (Criterion 2) and/or used to aggravate existing tensions in the country (Criterion 3).
Given the use of excessive force against demonstrators in Egypt, all applications for police and military end-users are scrutinised particularly carefully. Ministers have been and continue to be consulted on all applications for equipment where there is a potential risk that the goods could be used for internal repression. Taking into account the end user and the nature of the equipment, applications will only be approved where we are satisfied that there is not a clear risk that the goods might be used in contravention of Criteria 2 and 3.
We are aware of reports that UK-manufactured tear gas has been used in Egypt. No licences for the export of tear gas to Egypt have been granted since 1999. Since that time UK export controls have been radically overhauled including through the passing of the Export Control Act 2002 and the adoption of the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria.
I am also copying this to Richard Ottaway, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee.
26 April 2012