Egypt’s al-Sisi, Sudan’s defence minister discuss threats to regional security
December 5, 2018 (KHARTOUM) – Egyptian President Abdel-Fatah al-Sisi and the Sudanese Defence Minister Awad Ibn Ouf on Tuesday have discussed the current security challenges in the region.
During the meeting, President al-Sisi stressed the importance to continue to support joint military cooperation between Sudan and Egypt and the exchange of expertise between the two armies.
He also underlined keenness to cooperate with the Sudanese army in a number of domains including training, security and intelligence and military industry.
The Egyptian President further pointed to the need to continue joint coordination to meet the current security challenges and maintain the regional peace and stability.
For his part, the Sudanese Defence Minister stressed his country’s keenness to promote joint cooperation with Egypt in all areas particularly military and security areas.
During a visit of the Egyptian Defence Minister Mohamed Ahmed Zaki to Khartoum last month, the two sides agreed to establish joint border protection force to combat terrorism and cross-border crimes.
The two countries also agreed to build strategic partnerships on military cooperation and reached understandings to strengthen security and intelligence cooperation.
Relations between Sudan and Egypt experienced in December 2017 a new crisis over media attacks against President Omer al-Bashir after a visit of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Sudan. Also, Sudan accused Egypt and Eritrea of supporting rebel groups to attack Kassala State on the eastern border.
However, the two countries recently developed joint security cooperation against the opposition groups from both sides.
The main differences between the two neighbours remain the dispute over the border triangle area of Halayeb and the construction of Ethiopian Grand Renaissance Dam that Sudan backs.
(ST)