Visiting Cairo, Pence praises U.S. friendship with Egypt

CAIRO — On Saturday, the first day of the federal government shutdown, Vice President Mike Pence arrived here in the late afternoon to meet with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, whom he praised and repeatedly called a “friend” of the United States.

The leaders met for nearly 2½ hours at the presidential palace and delivered brief statements before a small group of reporters who are traveling with Mr. Pence — a nearly nine-minute event that only happened after intense negotiation between Mr. Pence’s staff and Egyptian authorities, who wanted to limit access to one television camera with limited sound and, at one point, physically barred reporters from leaving a bus.

Sitting in gold-gilded chairs in front of an intricate tapestry showing a map of Egypt, Mr. Sissi said through an interpreter that Mr. Pence is a “dear guest” and that his visit “speaks volumes” about Egypt’s relationship with the Trump administration. Mr. Pence said that the two countries had been “drifting apart” until Mr. Trump took office but that their “ties have never been stronger,” especially as they work together to fight terrorism in the region. He added that he chose to visit Egypt first on his four-day, three-country Middle East tour because of the importance of the U.S.-Egyptian relationship.

Mr. Pence denounced a terrorist attack on an Egyptian mosque in November that killed more than 300, along with recent attacks on Coptic Christians.

Neither leader mentioned the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or President Donald Trump’s decision late last year to formally recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, a move that Mr. Sissi advised against. Neither answered shouted questions from reporters. In his brief remarks, Mr. Pence made no mention of the U.S. citizens who are imprisoned in Egypt, often on questionable charges. Mr. Sissi’s regime has been accused of gross human rights violations and stifling the press.

Mr. Pence arrived at the presidential palace late Saturday afternoon, along with a bus carrying the 12 reporters who are traveling with him in the Middle East this week. A CNN journalist with a video camera left the bus, but then an Egyptian official planted himself in front of the door and would not allow anyone else to leave. One of Mr. Pence’s staff members firmly told the man that he needed to let everyone out, but he refused to move, forcing her to shout out the windows to others who might be able to help.

After about three minutes, reporters were allowed off the bus but not into the meeting between Mr. Pence and Mr. Sissi. They were not allowed to take cellphones, cameras or laptops into the palace and spent about 90 minutes waiting in a room down the hall from where Mr. Pence and Mr. Sissi were meeting. In the hall outside, there were tense negotiations over which reporters would eventually be allowed into the meeting for the brief statements.

After two meetings, the two leaders and their top aides had dinner together. The visit lasted less than four hours. The vice president is scheduled to fly from Cairo to Amman, Jordan, on Saturday night.