David Cameron

David Cameron arrives in Egypt to meet military rulers

Prime minister lands in Cairo and becomes first leader to visit Egypt since ousting of Hosni Mubarak as president

David Cameron will depict himself as a 'candid friend' of Egypt during his visit. Photograph: Wpa/Getty Images

David Cameron has flown into Cairo amid tight security, becoming the first world leader to visit Egypt since Hosni Mubarak was ousted as president in the revolution 10 days ago.

A news blackout was lifted as the prime minister landed in the Egyptian capital for a five-hour stopover that was hastily added to the start of a planned tour of the Middle East.

Cameron arrived as the second month of protests across the Arab world continued. Violence has intensified in neighbouring Libya, with the loss of hundreds of lives.

The protests began in Tunisia, Libya's neighbour to the west, in January.

The prime minister – who made clear soon after arriving in Downing Street last year that promoting British trade should be a top foreign policy priority – will attempt to show that he is in tune with the new times.

Portraying Britain as a "candid friend" of Egypt, he will urge the country's interim military rulers to abide by their commitments to hold free and fair elections.

Cameron is due to meet Field Marshal Mohammed Hussein Tantawi, Mubarak's minister of defence, who is the head of the supreme council of the armed forces. The council assumed power on 11 February when the former president stood down after 18 days of protests.

Cameron is also due to meet Ahmed Shafik – another member of the military council who was appointed as prime minister by Mubarak at the end of January in response to the protests, which were focused around Cairo's Tahrir Square – and opposition figures.

He will call for the lifting of the emergency law imposed by Mubarak in 1981 in the wake of the assassination of his predecessor, Anwar Sadat and urge that opposition leaders are given cabinet seats.

He will also raise the authorities' decision to allow two Iranian warships to travel up the Suez Canal. Mubarak always denied such passage to the Iranians.

Speaking en route to Cairo, Cameron said he would be asking the country's rulers to ensure there was a "genuine transition" to civilian rule.

"It is important going to Egypt first," he said. "This is a moment of great opportunity for Egypt. It is a great opportunity for us to go and talk to those currently running Egypt to make sure this really is a genuine transition from military rule to civilian law and to see what countries like Britain and others in Europe can do to help.

"Our message, as it has been throughout this, [is] that the response to the aspirations that people are showing on the streets of these countries must be one of reform and not repression."

The prime minister contrasted the conduct of the authorities in Egypt with the "vicious" response to the protests in Libya.

He said: "We can see what is happening in Libya is completely appalling and unacceptable, as a regime is using the most vicious forms of repression against people who want to see their country, which is one of the most closed and one of the most autocratic, make progress.

"The response they have shown is quite appalling."

During his brief stopover, Cameron will meet some of the protest leaders, but not members of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Downing Street wants to show there are other credible leaders of the opposition to ensure the military cannot revive Mubarak's 30-year claim that Egypt faced a choice between rule by emergency law or the Muslim Brotherhood.

Cameron said: "It is good to be able ... to meet some of the people involved in the protests because what is so refreshing about what has been happening is that this is not an Islamist revolt, it is not extremists.

"It is people who want to have basic freedoms that we take for granted in the UK."

Downing Street arranged the visit to Egypt in great haste amid fears that a long-planned trade trip to other Middle East countries with questionable commitments to democracy would look out of step as protests sweep across the region.

Arms sales are expected to be on the agenda throughout the week, and Cameron insisted there was no contradiction in promoting trade and pushing for political reform, the two themes of the rest of his Middle East trip.

"This trip is something I've wanted to make for a long time," he added. "We have got very important trading relationships that we want to expand, we have got a very important security relationship – not least in combating extremist terror – that we need to sharpen and increase.

My argument is that the process of political reform and economic reform – there is a real opportunity there to make more progress – doesn't run counter to those other two objectives.

"It actually goes with those objectives. Greater openness and greater reform can actually, in time, lead to greater stability and stronger relationships."

Egypt's military council has agreed to hold a referendum on constitutional changes within the next two months, but many pro-democracy campaigners fear that the military – which will govern by martial law for at least six months until elections are held – could present a weak package of reforms.

Downing Street, which points out that Cameron condemned the violence in Egypt in strong language, believes the military council is making initial moves in the right direction.

But Britain thinks Egypt is still politically fragile and there is a long way to go until a broad-based government is in place.

Cameron will say that Britain will help Egypt through the Foreign Office Arab Partnership Fund and other economic assistance. He will add that the EU should redirect its large funds more effectively to Egypt.

Downing Street says Cameron's tour of the Middle East shows Britain does not have a "one-legged foreign policy" focused solely on trade.

Its three main priorities are:

• Encouraging political reforms, though these should happen in different ways in separate countries. Cameron will say that the protests across the Arab world are of immense significance because they are driven by economic and political demands and do not represent Islamist fundamentalism.

• Pushing UK commercial interests. The prime minister will say it is in Britain's national interests to develop commercial links with one of the fastest-growing areas in the world.

• Addressing security issues which are common to the Middle East and to Britain. The most pressing security threat is Iran and its nuclear ambitions. Cameron expects most of the Middle Eastern countries he will be visiting to share his concerns about Iran.

Britain believes that the twin-track approach to dealing with Iran's nuclear ambitions – negotiations and sanctions – is failing to make much headway, and Cameron expects to receive support for tightening sanctions.

The other security issues throughout the week will be the stalled Middle East peace process, the instability of Yemen and piracy. Cameron will say achieving his three broad goals is the best way of ensuring long-term stability in the region.

The UK faced pressure over the weekend when it was forced to revoke arms export licences to Bahrain and Libya amid fears that British arms could have been used in the violent crackdown on protesters.

Cameron outlined the approach he will take this week in a telephone call on Sunday with the King of Bahrain.

A Downing Street spokesman said: "The prime minister stressed the importance of responding to peaceful protest through reform, not repression. The violence of previous days had been deeply concerning.

Posted in: powerfull celebrity