Hemedti to Visit Qatar in First Sudanese Official Trip Since Bashir's Ouster

The Vice President of the Sudanese Transitional Sovereignty Council Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (file photo: Reuters)
The Vice President of the Sudanese Transitional Sovereignty Council Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (file photo: Reuters)
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Hemedti to Visit Qatar in First Sudanese Official Trip Since Bashir's Ouster

The Vice President of the Sudanese Transitional Sovereignty Council Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (file photo: Reuters)
The Vice President of the Sudanese Transitional Sovereignty Council Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (file photo: Reuters)

Sudanese Vice President of the Transitional Sovereignty Council Lt. Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, commonly known as Hemedti, arrived Saturday in Doha marking the first visit of a Sudanese top official after the overthrow of Omar al-Bashir.

Hemedti was accompanied by Foreign Minister Omer Gamereldin and head of the General Intelligence Service Gamal Abdel-Majid to hold talks with Qatari officials on bilateral relations and Sudan's position on the border dispute with Ethiopia.

The VP announced his arrival to Doha on his Facebook page, indicating that the visit will address the bilateral ties and promotion of cooperation in a way that serves the interests of both states.

The visit aims to highlight the Sudanese position on the border dispute with Ethiopia and the negotiations concerning the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), as part of a government’s diplomatic campaign to explain its stance to brotherly and friendly countries.

The Sudanese-Qatari relations were strained after the Transitional Military Council, which took power after Bashir, refused to receive the Qatari Foreign Minister in April 2019.

The Council did not grant permission to the official's plane to land after it arrived in Sudanese airspace. The incident took place less than a week after the Sudanese revolution which toppled the Islamist regime.

Earlier, the Sudanese delegation visited Saudi Arabia, Eritrea, Chad, South Africa, and Kenya, and discussed with the participating states in the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), the dispute with Ethiopia after Sudan retrieved control over al-Fashagah area.

The ICGLR is an inter-governmental organization of African countries in the African Great Lakes Region and was established in 1994 to resolve peace and security issues.

In 2020, ICGLR held its ordinary summit of heads of state and government meeting in Angola via video link.



Egypt Says Israel-EU Agreement Has Not Increased Aid to Gaza

Egyptian Foreign Affairs Minister Badr Abdelatty arrives for a meeting of Palestinian and Israeli foreign ministers on the sidelines of the EU-Southern Neighborhood Ministerial Meeting at the EU Council in Brussels, Belgium, 14 July 2025. (EPA)
Egyptian Foreign Affairs Minister Badr Abdelatty arrives for a meeting of Palestinian and Israeli foreign ministers on the sidelines of the EU-Southern Neighborhood Ministerial Meeting at the EU Council in Brussels, Belgium, 14 July 2025. (EPA)
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Egypt Says Israel-EU Agreement Has Not Increased Aid to Gaza

Egyptian Foreign Affairs Minister Badr Abdelatty arrives for a meeting of Palestinian and Israeli foreign ministers on the sidelines of the EU-Southern Neighborhood Ministerial Meeting at the EU Council in Brussels, Belgium, 14 July 2025. (EPA)
Egyptian Foreign Affairs Minister Badr Abdelatty arrives for a meeting of Palestinian and Israeli foreign ministers on the sidelines of the EU-Southern Neighborhood Ministerial Meeting at the EU Council in Brussels, Belgium, 14 July 2025. (EPA)

Egypt's foreign minister said on Monday that the flow of aid into Gaza has not increased despite an agreement last week between Israel and the European Union that should have had that result.

"Nothing has changed (on the ground)," Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty told reporters ahead of the EU-Middle East meeting in Brussels on Monday.

The EU's top diplomat said on Thursday that the bloc and Israel agreed to improve Gaza's humanitarian situation, including increasing the number of aid trucks and opening crossing points and aid routes.

Asked what steps Israel has taken, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar referred to an understanding with the EU but did not provide details on implementation.

Asked if there were improvements after the agreement, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi told reporters that the situation in Gaza remains "catastrophic".

"There is a real catastrophe happening in Gaza resulting from the continuation of the Israeli siege," he said.

Safadi said Israel allowed the entry of 40 to 50 trucks days ago from Jordan but that was "far from being sufficient" for the besieged enclave.

EU's foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said ahead of Monday's meeting that there have been some signs of progress on Gaza aid but not enough improvement on the ground.

Israel's continued military operations and blockade have left the entire population of 2.3 million people in Gaza facing acute food insecurity, with nearly half a million at risk of famine by the end of September, a joint United Nations report said last month.