Egypt Calls on International Community to Help “Fight Terror”

Egyptian diplomats are set to meet with foreign ambassadors posted to Cairo to ask for their support in Egypt’s “fight against terrorism,” as Egypt escalates action against militants following attacks on Friday that killed 31 soldiers in Sinai.

The foreign minister’s aide for the Americas Mohamed Farid Moneeb met on Sunday with ambassadors from North and Latin America, a foreign affairs ministry press communiqué read.

Moneeb called on the ambassadors’ respective countries to support Egypt in a war against terrorism that is “not separate from the battle that the international coalition is currently waging against the Islamic State.”

He added that the different terrorist organisations in the region have the same extremist ideology and cooperate with each other in their operations.

This, according to Moneeb, makes it vital for the international community to consider all terrorist organisations dangerous and important to deal with, instead of focusing on eliminating one terrorist organization and ignoring the others.

Not providing support to Egypt, will give a negative signal that would be in the interest of terrorism and harm the security and stability of the region, Moneeb added.

Foreign affairs ministry spokesman Badr Abdel-Ati, in statements to Al-Ahram Arabic website, said the international support Egypt called for involves the exchange of information between countries on terrorist organisations.

He added that the support also includes cutting off funding to these “armed radical organisations.”

Abdel-Ati stated that there are some delays in the delivery of a number of pieces of equipment Egypt had sought to obtain to fight terrorism. He asked for the countries to quickly supply these items.

Following the deadly attack on Friday, Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi on Saturday blamed the deadly attacks on foreign parties, saying that Egypt is experiencing an “existential war.”

A militant insurgency by jihadist groups in the peninsula has become more active since the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013. Hundreds of police and soldiers, as well as militants, have been killed.

No militant group has yet come forward to claim responsibility for Friday’s attacks, although Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis, a jihadist group active in Sinai, has in the past claimed responsibility for many similar attacks.