Egypt to buy Rafale fighter jets worth $4.5bn from France

Human Rights Watch condemns deal saying Paris is only encouraging ‘ruthless repression’ in Egypt under President el-Sisi.

Egypt has signed a contract with France to buy 30 Rafale fighter jets in a deal that investigative website Disclose said was worth $4.5bn. Egypt’s defence ministry revealed the deal in a statement early on Tuesday. President Emmanuel Macron said in December he would not make the sale of weapons to Egypt conditional on a commitment to respect human rights because he did not want to weaken Cairo’s ability to counter violence in the region. Egypt’s defence ministry said the deal would be financed through a loan to be repaid over at least 10 years but did not give details about the value of the deal or any other information.