Parliamentarians praise Sisi’s 'historic' speech at UNGA 73

CAIRO – 27 September 2018: A number of Egyptian parliamentarians praised President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi’s speech at the high-level General Debate of the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA 73).

MP Mohamed Farag Amer, head of the Parliament’s Youth and Sports committee, said that Sisi addressed various issues the world states are concerned with, including combating terrorism. He added that Sisi’s vision can save the world from terrorism.

Amer also praised Sisi’s perspective concerning the Palestinian cause, which aims at resolving the dispute between Palestinian people and Israelis, highlighting the Palestinians’ right to establish a state with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Amer asserted that Sisi’s vision concerning the situation in Syria, Libya and Yemen should help the international community resolve the crises in these war-torn countries.
During his speech, Sisi affirmed Egypt's commitment to combating terrorism to help restore stability in the war-torn countries saying:

“There can be no way out of the crisis in Syria and the plight of Yemen, except by restoring tiled nation state, preserving its sovereignty and state institutions, as well as realizing the legitimate aspirations of its people. Egypt fully supports a UN-led political solution in these two countries, and rejects any exploitation of the crises to create footholds for regional interventions, or enable an environment for terrorism, extremism and sectarianism.

This same principle applies to our policy in Libya, where Egypt plays a pivotal role to support rebuilding the state, particularly with regards to the unification of the Libyan forces so that it is capable of defending Libya and countering the dangers of terrorism. We should not forget that a year has passed since the adoption of the United Nations action plan on Libya, which sought to comprehensively address the Libyan crisis, without achieving progress in its implementation.“

Parliament spokesman Salah Hasaballah urged the international community to work on executing Egypt’s clear and serious vision toward fighting terrorism and resolving the war-torn countries’ crises, which Sisi had explained during his speech.


MP Hussein Abu Gad of the Human Rights committee designated Sisi’s speech as “historic”, adding that the president’s vision concerning the Palestinian cause is applicable, and is based on international legitimacy.

MP Mohamed Zein al-Dein, deputy head of the Transportation committee, said that Sisi spoke on behalf of the Arab, African and world nations, and explained his vision regarding all problems the world is facing currently.
Zein explained that Sisi hopes all disputes are resolved through political dialogue and negotiations.

MP Ameen Masoud said that Sisi’s speech pleased the Egyptians, Arabs, Africans and the people of the world. “The president [Sisi] is the only president worldwide who earns strong and continuous applause from all leaders, and delegations’ heads in the United Nations,” Masoud stated.

Parliament’s Human Rights committee member Margaret Azer said that Sisi’s speech held the United Nations responsible for not responding to the incidents taking place in the Arab countries.

In an interview with Egypt Today, MP Heba Hagrass said that Egypt has a strong constitutional base to protect human rights, adding that the country achieved progress in the women’s rights.

During his speech, Sisi stated: “The protection of human rights will not be realized through media defamation or the politicization of Human Rights mechanisms, while ignoring the need to tackle all human rights in an equitable manner, including economic, social and cultural rights on equal footing. Egypt has a solid constitutional foundation for the protection of human rights. Major strides have been achieved in the field of women and youth empowerment. Women hold 25 percent of the ministerial posts and more than 15 percent of parliament seats.