US Signals Willingness to Renew Ties with Egypt

CAIRO, Egypt -- Relations between the United States and Egypt are back on course following Secretary of State John Kerry's weekend visit to Cairo.

It was the highest-level meeting since President el-Sisi's election and inauguration last month.

Kerry met with Egypt's new president and foreign minister and pledged to restore $650-million in U.S. military aid. The aid was withheld after the Egyptian army ousted Mohammed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood from power last summer.

Kerry expressed confidence the Egyptian president will implement democratic reforms. He said el-Sissi gave him a, "very strong sense of his commitment to make certain that the process he has put in place, a re-evaluation of human rights legislation, a re-evaluation of the judicial process, and other choices that are available, are very much on his mind and that he has only been in office for 10 days."

Kerry's visit comes at a good time. Egypt is more stable now in the post-Morsi, post-Brotherhood era. They have a new constitution, a new president and still to come are the parliamentary elections. Christians feel more secure.

With thousands of Muslim Brotherhood members in jail and the group outlawed, organized attacks against Christians have lessened.

And just this passed weekend, an Egyptian court sentenced 180 Muslim Brotherhood members to death for killing a policeman and a civilian during an attack on police headquarters last August. Five hundred other Brotherhood members were acquitted.

Also of concern to the United States is Egypt's imprisonment of Al Jazeera journalists. A court handed down sentences today. One of the journalists received a 10-year prison sentence, and two others received seven years each.

The United States is still pressing for leniency and the inclusion of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt's future.

But despite issues of disagreement, Kerry took the first step to bring the relationship back on track.

"Obviously this is a critical moment of transition in Egypt with enormous challenges," he said. "The United States is very interested in working closely with President el-Sissi and his cabinet and Egypt in order to help make this transition as rapidly and smoothly as possible."