Khartoum, Cairo Sign Joint Military Cooperation Agreement

Sudan and Egypt signed a military cooperation agreement on Tuesday. (AFP)
Sudan and Egypt signed a military cooperation agreement on Tuesday. (AFP)
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Khartoum, Cairo Sign Joint Military Cooperation Agreement

Sudan and Egypt signed a military cooperation agreement on Tuesday. (AFP)
Sudan and Egypt signed a military cooperation agreement on Tuesday. (AFP)

Sudan and Egypt signed a military cooperation agreement on Tuesday during a three-day visit by Egypt’s Army Chief of Staff Lt. General Mohamed Farid to the Sudanese capital.

Sudan’s Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Mohamed Othman al-Hussein said the agreement aims to achieve national security for both countries.

Exchanged visits by Egyptian and Sudanese military officials have increased after the ouster of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir in 2019.

Farid led on Monday a high-ranking military delegation to take part in the seventh meeting of the Egyptian-Sudanese Military Committee in Khartoum.

In November 2020, the first phase of the Egyptian-Sudanese air force military drill, dubbed” The Nile Eagles 1,” kicked off in Khartoum.

The Egyptian and Sudanese special and air forces carried out the drill, which was the first of its kind between the two neighboring countries.

According to Farid, Tuesday’s visit aims at supporting military and security cooperation to bolster bilateral capabilities and confront challenges facing both countries’ national security.

Cairo is ready to meet Khartoum’s demands in all military fields, as part of the unprecedented military bilateral cooperation.



Art Expert Pleads Guilty to Selling Works to Suspected Hezbollah Financier

FILED - 27 October 2023, Iran, Chomein: A woman sorts flags of the Lebanese Hezbollah militia in a factory. Photo: Arne Immanuel Bansch/dpa
FILED - 27 October 2023, Iran, Chomein: A woman sorts flags of the Lebanese Hezbollah militia in a factory. Photo: Arne Immanuel Bansch/dpa
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Art Expert Pleads Guilty to Selling Works to Suspected Hezbollah Financier

FILED - 27 October 2023, Iran, Chomein: A woman sorts flags of the Lebanese Hezbollah militia in a factory. Photo: Arne Immanuel Bansch/dpa
FILED - 27 October 2023, Iran, Chomein: A woman sorts flags of the Lebanese Hezbollah militia in a factory. Photo: Arne Immanuel Bansch/dpa

An art expert who appeared on the BBC's Bargain Hunt show pleaded guilty Friday to failing to report that he sold pricey works to a suspected financier of Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group.
Oghenochuko Ojiri, 53, was charged with failing to disclose art sales between October 2020 and December 2021. He pleaded guilty in Westminster Magistrates’ Court to eight offences under a section of the Terrorism Act 2000.
Ojiri sold about 140,000 pounds ($185,000) of artworks to Nazem Ahmad, a diamond and art dealer sanctioned by the UK and US as a Hezbollah financier. The sanctions were designed to prevent anyone in the UK or US from doing business with Ahmad or his businesses.
US prosecutors said Ahmad acquired more than $160 million (120 million pounds) in artwork and diamond services by using a complex web of companies to evade sanctions, reported The Associated Press.
Prosecutor Lyndon Harris said Ojiri knew about the sanctions against Ahmad because he had searched for news reports about his status and discussed it with others.
“There is one discussion where Mr. Ojiri is party to a conversation where it is apparent a lot of people have known for years about his terrorism links,” Harris said.
Ahmad was sanctioned in 2019 by the US Treasury, which said he was a prominent Lebanon-based money launderer involved in smuggling blood diamonds, which are mined in conflict zones and sold to finance violence.
Two years ago, the UK Treasury froze Ahmad’s assets because he financed the Iranian-backed Shiite militant organization that has been designated an international terrorist group.
Ojiri, who also appeared on the BBC’s Antiques Road Trip, faces up to five years in prison when he is sentenced June 6 in the Central Criminal Court.