CAIRO: Senior US Senator John McCain met Egypt’s military chief and foreign minister on Saturday, a day after a trip to the Libyan rebel stronghold of Benghazi, Egyptian television reported.
It said McCain, a Republican who lost his 2008 presidential bid to Barack Obama, met Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces that has ruled Egypt since the February ouster of Hosni Mubarak.
McCain also discussed American aid with Foreign Minister Nabil El-Araby, as well as Middle East developments and the conflict in Libya.
The official MENA news agency said McCain briefed El-Araby on his talks with Libyan rebel leaders in their Benghazi stronghold.
On Friday, McCain urged the international community to arm and recognize the rebel Transitional National Council (TNC) as the "legitimate voice" of the Libyan people.
"I would encourage every nation, especially the United States, to recognize the Transitional National Council as the legitimate voice of the Libyan people. They have earned this right," he told reporters in Benghazi.
France, Gambia, Italy and Qatar are the only countries so far to have recognized the TNC, Libya’s parallel government in the east.
McCain, a US Navy pilot in the Vietnam war, also urged NATO to step up its campaign of air strikes to protect civilians from Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi’s forces, especially in besieged Misrata.
