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Egypt, Eritrea Agree to Face Threats in African Horn, Red Sea

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi meets with Eritrean Foreign Minister Osman Saleh in Cairo (Egyptian Presidency)
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi meets with Eritrean Foreign Minister Osman Saleh in Cairo (Egyptian Presidency)
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Egypt, Eritrea Agree to Face Threats in African Horn, Red Sea

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi meets with Eritrean Foreign Minister Osman Saleh in Cairo (Egyptian Presidency)
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi meets with Eritrean Foreign Minister Osman Saleh in Cairo (Egyptian Presidency)

Egypt and Eritrea on Thursday expressed keenness to continue coordination and consultations at various levels to face threats in the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea and support regional security and stability.
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi met with Eritrean Foreign Minister Osman Saleh in Cairo, in the presence of Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty and Head of the Egyptian General Intelligence Service Major General Abbas Kamel.
During the meeting, Sisi received a letter from his Eritrean counterpart Isaias Afwerki, in which he looked forward to enhancing consultation and coordination on issues of common interest, a presidential statement said.
Sisi confirmed Egypt’s keenness to advance efforts to deepen the distinguished relations and cooperation between the two countries, so as to benefit the two peoples and achieve their common interests, in light of the mounting regional challenges that call for intensifying discussions on ways to address them.
The meeting touched on the regional situation, particularly issues and threats in the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea, the statement said.
Both countries confirmed keenness to continue joint coordination and consultation at various levels, so as to support security and stability in the region.
The meeting comes amid escalated tensions in the Horn of Africa after Somaliland agreed in January to grant 20 kilometers of its coastline for 50 years to Addis Ababa, through a “lease” agreement.
Egypt and Somalia rejected the deal, which prompted Arab foreign ministers to convene urgently on January 17 via a virtual conference.
Somaliland, a former British protectorate, declared independence from Somalia in 1991, but the move was not recognized internationally.
The Mogadishu government said it would address this agreement by all legal means, and described it as “a blatant violation of its sovereignty.”
Egypt aims at boosting cooperation with the countries of the Horn of Africa. Last month, Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty embarked on a tour operated by EgyptAir to Djibouti and Mogadishu, marking the first direct flights between Egypt and these two African nations.

 

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Arab World

Sudanese Stakeholders Hold Roundtable Talks in Geneva

A previous meeting of the coordination of Tagadum with the officials of the African Mechanism in Addis Ababa. (Tagadum on Facebook)
A previous meeting of the coordination of Tagadum with the officials of the African Mechanism in Addis Ababa. (Tagadum on Facebook)
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Sudanese Stakeholders Hold Roundtable Talks in Geneva

A previous meeting of the coordination of Tagadum with the officials of the African Mechanism in Addis Ababa. (Tagadum on Facebook)
A previous meeting of the coordination of Tagadum with the officials of the African Mechanism in Addis Ababa. (Tagadum on Facebook)

Geneva has hosted a third “roundtable” of meetings involving Sudanese political and civil groups aimed at bridging the gap between the country’s warring parties. These talks, coordinated by the French organization Promediation, follow similar meetings held previously in Cairo and Geneva. The primary goals are to negotiate a ceasefire and facilitate humanitarian aid to civilians.

The two-day meetings, which began on Monday, include representatives from the Coordination of Democratic Civil Forces (Tagadum), the pro-army Democratic Bloc coalition, and armed movements aligned with the bloc. However, some groups have announced their boycott of the meetings.

The Democratic Bloc has shown conflicting stances on attending the Geneva talks. Mohammed Zakaria, spokesperson for the bloc and a member of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), announced his group’s decision not to participate.

Omar Khalafallah, a leader in the Democratic Unionist Party and another bloc spokesperson, refuted Zakaria’s statement, insisting that the bloc would attend the meetings to promote a national vision.

A source within the Democratic Bloc told Asharq Al-Awsat that the meetings revealed significant internal divisions in the coalition. The JEM, led by current Finance Minister Jibril Ibrahim, appears to be charting its own course, which the source described as a form of defection.

In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, Sharif Mohammed Osman, a leader in Tagadum and the political secretary of the Sudanese Congress Party, explained that the meetings seek to achieve consensus on ending the war through negotiated solutions, starting with a humanitarian truce to ensure aid delivery and the opening of safe corridors.

These measures are considered preliminary steps toward a ceasefire and a peaceful resolution to the conflict, he underlined.

A wide array of civilian leaders are participating in the talks, including key figures from Tagadum, such as Sudanese Congress Party leader Omar Al-Dukair, Federal Gathering Party leader Babiker Faisal, and head of the Sudan Liberation Movement – Transitional Council Al-Hadi Idris.

Osman expressed optimism that the participants would issue a unified final statement addressing the peaceful resolution of the war and agreeing on a humanitarian truce to facilitate aid delivery.

In October, Cairo hosted a similar meeting, which resulted in a final statement signed by the participating groups, except for the Sudan Liberation Movement – Minni Minnawi faction and the JEM – Jibril Ibrahim faction, which refused to endorse the Cairo declaration despite attending the discussions.

Promediation, a French organization supported by the French and Swiss foreign ministries, has played a consistent role in Sudanese affairs. Since June 2022, it has organized roundtable discussions, initially focusing on negotiations between Darfuri armed movements before expanding its scope to include Sudanese political and civil forces in the wake of the war.