Clinton set to arrive in Egypt

Clinton set to arrive in Egypt

By the CNN Wire Staff
updated 9:19 AM EDT, Sat July 14, 2012
Cairo (CNN) -- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was scheduled to arrive in Egypt Saturday in what will be the first meeting of U.S. Cabinet official with the country's newly elected president.
Aides say Clinton will be in listening mode when she meets with President Mohamed Morsy, discussing the newly elected leader's priorities and what the United States can do to help.
The visit "will highlight U.S. support for Egypt's democratic transition and economic revival," Deputy Secretary of State William J. Burns said this month.
The visit comes as Egypt is in the throws of domestic political chaos, with Morsy in a tug of war with
the Egyptian military. The Islamist president doesn't have his own Cabinet in place, and there is no parliament.
This week in Asia, Clinton sent a message to Egypt's leaders to talk to one another and settle their differences for the good of the people, saying both the president and the military needed to work together to avoid derailing Egypt's democratic transition.
Clinton aides said the secretary of state wanted to visit Cairo early after Morsy's swearing-in to show the Obama administration wants to help the new government improve Egypt's fragile economy.
During her visit, the secretary is also expected to raise the delicate issues of women's rights and equality for the country's Coptic Christians, who have faced persecution in the past.
The peace treaty with Israel and the situation in the Sinai on the border between the two countries will also be high on the agenda. Both the United States and Israel have been concerned about recent cross-border attacks into Israel that have heightened tensions between both countries. The area has seen an explosive mix of trafficking of weapons and people across the border from Sudan, coupled with a variety of terrorist groups moving increasingly freely in the area.
On the same day of Clinton's visit, Egyptian state media reported that security services in North Sinai were intensifying efforts to get a kidnapped American couple and their tour guide released. Bedouin kidnappers want authorities to release a relative who is in detention in Alexandria on drug charges, said Gen. Ahmed Bakr, head of security in the North Sinai.
Kidnappings and armed robberies have increased since a popular uprising ousted Egypt's long-ruling dictator, Hosni Mubarak, last year.
The U.S. Embassy in Cairo said it was "in close touch with Egyptian authorities, who are doing everything they can to bring about safe release of the American tourists."
Clinton's meeting with Morsy will kick off what is expected to be a steady stream of high-level U.S. officials to visit Cairo in coming months, including Defense Secretary Leon Panetta within the next few weeks and culminating with a possible meeting with President Barack Obama on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in September.