The French President, Emmanuel Macron, has said he won't make sales of weapons to Egypt conditional on its human rights record.

He said he didn't want to weaken Egypt's capacity to fight terrorism in the Middle East.

Mr Macron was speaking after talks with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who's on a state visit to France.

Human rights groups issued a joint statement ahead of the visit saying Mr Macron shouldn't indulge the Egyptian president, whom they accuse of heavy-handed crackdowns on dissent.

Egypt accounts for over a quarter of France's military exports.