CAIRO - The United States and Egypt on Sunday committed to restoring a partnership undermined by the military ouster of Egypt’s first democratically elected president.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry became the highest-ranking official in President Barack Obama’s administration to visit the country since the military toppled Mohammed Morsi in July and cracked down on his Muslim Brotherhood supporters.
Those moves led the U.S. to suspend hundreds of millions of dollars in aid. Morsi’s trial on charges of inciting murder was expected to begin today at a location east of the capital. There were fears of renewed clashes between his backers and government security forces.
Morsi’s trial was moved Sunday to that location east of the capital in a bid to thwart mass rallies planned by the Brotherhood in his support.
The change of the venue was announced at a news conference by Court of Appeals Judge Medhat Idris, who threw his statement in the air and stormed out of the room when Morsi supporters shouted in protest at the change.
He later said by telephone that the trial will not be aired live. Other details about the proceedings, including where Morsi will be held during them, remain secret.
The new venue is a heavily fortified police academy in an eastern Cairo suburb, already used for the trial of another former president - Hosni Mubarak - toppled in a 2011 uprising.
Kerry, who was starting a 10-day trip to the Middle East, Europe and North Africa, and Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy pledged to ease tensions between Washington and Cairo.
The State Department refused to confirm Kerry’s brief visit until he landed in Cairo, even though Egypt’s official news agency reported the impending trip Friday.
Kerry spent most of his time at a hotel near the airport.
He spoke with human-rights advocates and representatives from religious, labor and youth organizations. That meeting, which was not open to the media, provided an opportunity for civic-society leaders to express concerns about the Egyptian government, and perhaps U.S. policy. A list of the Egyptians invited to the session was not provided to reporters.
He ended his visit with meetings at the presidential palace and Defense Ministry.
Kerry held out the prospect of aid resumption as Egypt makes progress in restoring civilian democratic rule and ensuring the protection of basic human rights, including respect for freedom of expression, religion and the press.
“The United States believes that the U.S.-Egypt partnership is going to be strongest when Egypt is represented by an inclusive, democratically elected, civilian government based on rule of law, fundamental freedoms, and an open and competitive economy,” Kerry told reporters at a news conference with Fahmy.
In his meetings, Kerry spoke of the importance of all trials being transparent and respecting rule of law, but did not specifically mention Morsi’s case, according to aides who were present.
Instead, as he did in the news conference with Fahmy, Kerry spoke generally of U.S. disapproval of politically motivated arrests and prosecutions, and urged Egyptian authorities to respect due process and be transparent in any criminal proceedings, they said.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the private talks, said Kerry pressed the Egyptians not to renew a state of emergency that grants the government sweeping powers and is due to expire Nov. 14.
Kerry also pushed for an end to the crackdown on Morsi supporters and other critics who renounce violence, the officials said.
Egypt’s military chief, Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, has presented a map to democracy that includes amending the Islamist-tilted constitution adopted under Morsi last year and putting the new charter toa nationwide referendum before the end of the year, then having parliamentary and presidential elections by spring.
The officials said el-Sissi reiterated his commitment to that timetable in a meeting with Kerry, but appealed for the U.S. and others to be patient as Egypt struggles to restore democracy and get its economy back on track, the officials said.
Kerry last was in Egypt in March, when he urged Morsi to enact economic reforms and govern in a more inclusive manner. Those calls went unheeded. Simmering public unhappiness with his rule boiled over when the powerful military deposed Morsi.
The Obama administration was caught in a bind over whether to condemn the ouster as a coup and cut the annual $1.3 billion in U.S. military assistance that such a determination would legally require.
The U.S. waffled before deciding last month to suspend most big-ticket military aid such as tanks, helicopters and fighter jets, while declining to make a coup determination. The U.S. also is withholding $260 million in budget support to the government.
At the same time, however, the U.S. has maintained support for Egypt for counterterrorism programs, including the military’s efforts to secure Sinai, which has become a sanctuary for militants. Other untouched assistance included programs to educate Egyptian military officials in the U.S.; the shipment of spare parts for many of the weapons in the Egyptian military’s inventory; and aid for health care, education and the promotion of businesses in Egypt.
Kerry sought to play down the decision to withhold some of the assistance temporarily, casting it more as a step that was mandated by Congress than as a move to punish Egypt’s military leaders for removing a democratically elected president.
Egypt is receiving billions of dollars in aid from wealthy Gulf Arab states such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
According to the U.S. officials, Kerry said relying entirely on contributions from the oil-rich Gulf states is not sustainable, and that serious reform is needed to encourage foreign investment, boost domestic growth and restore the country’s once-vibrant tourism sector.
“If the people of Egypt don’t begin to see the economy take hold and improve, it will be hard for any government to provide the kinds of improvements that people are looking for in the quality of their lives,” Kerry said. “The government fully understands that.”
From Egypt, Kerry planned to travel to Saudi Arabia, Poland, Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Algeria and Morocco. The trip is widely seen as a damage control mission to ease disagreements between the U.S. and its friends over Syria, Iran and the revelations of widespread U.S. surveillance activities around the globe.
Also Sunday, a newspaper known for close ties to the military published what appeared to be the first pictures of Morsi from his detention. Daily el-Watan published a transcript of remarks it says were made by Morsi and captured on video, describing him as being “in total denial” and saying “I am the president of the republic, in accordance to the constitution.” Later in the day, it posted a video showing Morsi wearing a blue track suit, sitting on a chair and speaking calmly.
The paper quoted him as saying: “I will represent myself in front of any court … I am not involved in killings of the protesters … I will tell judges that.”
International rights groups have called for a fair trial for Morsi.
In a Sunday statement, London-based Amnesty International said Morsi’s trial is a “test” for the Egyptian authorities, who must grant him the“right to challenge the evidence against him in court,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Amnesty’s Middle East director.
And in Egypt’s restive northern Sinai Peninsula, troops killed three purported militants Sunday, a military official said, discovering rocket launchers, mortars, and rocket-propelled grenades in an abandoned house in the city of Rafah. Hours later, suspected militants killed two soldiers in a drive-by shooting at a checkpoint near the Suez Canal city of Ismailia, a security official said.
Officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to reporters.
Information for this article was contributed by Matthew Lee, Maggie Michael, Tony G. Gabriel and Sarah el Deeb of The Associated Press; by Michael R. Gordon and Kareem Fahim of The New York Times; and by Terry Atlas of Bloomberg News.
Front Section, Pages 1 on 11/04/2013