Leaders of Sudan and Egypt engage in bilateral talks

Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, the de facto leader and chairman of the sovereignty council in Sudan, has travelled to Egypt for bilateral talks as his country enters into its third year of civil war.

As reported to Middle East Monitor, talks between the two leaders centred around military gains made by the army against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in the capital of Sudan, Khartoum, according to a statement released by Egypt.

The two men also discussed how they could bring their two country’s closer together by tightening bilateral relations.

A joint statement was released calling for the Sudanese army to gain greater support in their fight against the RSF.

Egypt has been a consistent advocate for peace in Sudan and has attempted to rally regional partners into increasing their support for the army.

After Egyptian citizens were released by the RSF in March of this year, the government tried to raise support amongst countries in the region for the Sudanese government in its war against rebel militias.

Egyptian and Sudanese interests are somewhat intertwined due to their reliance of the Nile River Basin as a source of water security.

The two countries are both downstream of the source of the source of the Nile meaning they are vulnerable to actions taken up-stream in country’s such as Ethiopia, who have proposed to build a dam that would threaten both Egypt and Sudan.

A statement was released after the meeting by both leaders, reaffirming their coordination and intention to protect water security and to reiterate their rejection of any unilateral actions regarding the Nile water resources.

At the heart of these talks will have likely been Ethiopia’s plans to build a dam up-stream, a project that Egypt has been arguing against for over a year now.

For the Sudanese government, Egypt is a valuable ally in their ongoing conflict against the RSF.

Middle East Monitor, Maghrebi