Head of Egyptian intelligence service visits South Sudan

July 17, 2019 (JUBA) – The head of the Egyptian intelligence service, Abbas Kamel made a brief visit to South Sudan on Wednesday.

The Egyptian official also met his South Sudanese counterpart on means of boosting bilateral relations in the security sector.

In January this year, Kiir visited Cairo and briefed El Sisi about the peace agreement signed between warring parties in South Sudan.

South Sudan’s arch-foes, in September 2018, signed a revitalized peace agreement to end the country’s civil war that killed tens of thousands of people and displaced millions.

A statement from Egypt’s foreign minister, Sameh Shoukry at the time Kiir visited Cairo, said the two leaders discussed developing cooperation between both countries and South Sudan’s political and security developments.

Shoukry said Egypt would support implementation of South Sudan’s peace deal.

In November 2017, Egypt sponsored the signing of a declaration for the unification of two different factions of the South Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM).

The declaration, which supported efforts to end the dispute between the rival factions and agitated for return of refugees displaced by conflict, was witnessed by Al-Sisi and Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni.

Egypt was one of the countries that recognized South Sudan’s independence from Sudan in 2011.

(ST)