An investigation
conducted by French magazine Lorient and the German newspaper Sodic Zeitung
revealed that a French and a German company continued to supply Egyptian
authorities with machines to manufacture cartridges following the Rabaa
massacre, where hundreds of ousted president Mohammed Morsi’s supporters
killed. Morsi had been removed from office by the military coup led by his
defense minister Abed Fattah Sisi.
The
investigation points out that the French company Manurhin_ the biggest company
in world in manufacture the cartridges machines_ works in Egypt since 1950s,
and its cooperation with Cairo authorities has boosted in the era of Abed
Fattah Sisi, despite the Rabaa massacre committed by security forces in August
2015 and killed 800 of civilians.
Under the pretext of combating terrorism, the Egyptian authorities
have not stopped developing their military and repressive arsenals with the
assistance of the French company Manurhin. Despite the policy of suppressing
Sisi’s opponents, the company continued to export equipment to manufacture
ammunition for Egyptian forces.
Two days after Rabaa massacre, the largest massacre in
contemporary history committed in a day according to human rights watch,
Manurhin Company delivered to Egypt a machine for the manufacture of cartridges
to Egypt. Then, in the ensuing weeks; the French Customs Department seized a
machine for Manurhin that produces membranes for 20mm and 40mm cartridges,
where this caliber similar to one of rubber bullets and tear-gas used by riot
police.
On 14 August 2015, Egyptian authorities decided to forcibly end
the Rabaa sit-in, expecting around 3500 deaths. On the same day, French Foreign
Minister Laurent Fabius called for an immediate cessation of repression in
Egypt.
European response:
The European response following Rabaa massacre was not late. On 21
August 2015, EU member states decided to suspend export licenses to Egypt for
all equipment that security forces may use to suppress protestors. However,
France ignored the European decision and did not suspend or revoke the licenses
to export equipment to the Egyptian security forces.
“My company does not directly supply Egypt with weapons or
ammunition which can be used against civilians; the company’s work is under
authorities’ censorship, and it doesn’t enter into a contract to produce
cartridges with various caliber to Egypt only upon prior official authorization
from French ministerial committee responsible for the export of military
equipment.” “Manurhin’s” CEO Remy Tanberger said.
Thus, the French magazine Lorraine reported that in 22Augest 2015
and following the European resolution; General Secretariat of Defense and
National Security in France held an emergency meeting to study the issue of
exportation of Manurhin’s equipment to Egypt, where they decided to keep a
company machine set to be exported to Egypt. However, General Secretariat of
Defense and National Security in France estimated that this machine did not
represent a threat to Egyptian civilians, so they released the machine to reach
a plant in Egypt with some delay than scheduled.
The Manurhin’s CEO said that he didn’t remember this accident, but
he explained to a French magazine in an email that France kept renewing every
time the export licenses of the company's equipment to Egypt.
According to the magazine, between 2011 and 2015, Manurhin
delivered to the Egyptian authorities about eight machines to manufacture
ammunition of various caliber. These machines have been delivered to the two
manufactories in Cairo. After the year of 2015; they handed over more machines
in order to run two lines of production in the manufactories which has become
by the end of 2017.
German Company:
The French company was not involved alone in supplying Cairo with the mechanisms of cartridges manufacture, as the German Company of Fritz Werner contributed to the manufacture of some components of Manurhin Company’s machinery. The latter assigned to German company the manufacture of certain components such as bolts, furnaces and cutting equipment.
However, following the
political turmoil in Egypt, the German authorities did not renew the licenses
of Fritz Werner Company to export equipment to Egypt, but the French and German
companies reached in October 2013 an agreement to avoid such a ban.
According to the
agreement, Fritz Werner Company will export types of machinery to the French
company that does not require authorization from authorities in Berlin, then
Manurhin company exports them to Egypt.
Source: French Press
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