Sudan, Egypt Sign MoU on Joint Military Cooperation

 The Sudanese and Egyptian officials sign the MoU in Khartoum on Friday. (SUNA)
The Sudanese and Egyptian officials sign the MoU in Khartoum on Friday. (SUNA)
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Sudan, Egypt Sign MoU on Joint Military Cooperation

 The Sudanese and Egyptian officials sign the MoU in Khartoum on Friday. (SUNA)
The Sudanese and Egyptian officials sign the MoU in Khartoum on Friday. (SUNA)

Sudan and Egypt signed on Friday a memorandum of understanding on joint military cooperation during talks held in Khartoum between both countries’ army chiefs of staff.

They did not reveal details of the MoU, which was signed a few months after a similar military cooperation agreement was reached.

Sudanese Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Mohammed Osman al-Hussein and his Egyptian counterpart Lt. General Mohamed Farid Hegazy concluded on Thursday military talks and signed the understanding, Sudan’s state news agency (SUNA) reported.

Hussein commended the remarkable development in ties between both armies and thanked the Egyptian armed forces for their support and cooperation with Sudan, SUNA said.

Hegazy, for his part, underscored the depth of bilateral relations, noting that his visit is in line with the army’s follow-up of the latest agreements between the two sides.

He had stopped in Khartoum for a short visit on his way back to Cairo from Congo.

The pace of Sudanese-Egyptian military rapprochement has increased recently.

In March, both armies signed a military cooperation agreement covering training and border security.

In May, land, sea and air forces from both countries held the “Guardians of the Nile” maneuvers in Sudan's Um Siyala region.

They were the third drills following the “Nile Eagles-1” held in November 2020 and the “Nile Eagles 2” in April 2021.

The development of military ties is taking place amid mounting tensions with Ethiopia over the massive dam it is building on the Nile River’s main tributary.

Tensions are also high between Sudan and Ethiopia over the al-Fashaqa, a fertile border region where Ethiopian farmers have long cultivated fertile land claimed by Sudan.

Khartoum and Addis Ababa have been locked in a tense war of words over the region, trading accusations of violence and territorial violations in the area.



WHO Sends Over 1 Mln Polio Vaccines to Gaza to Protect Children 

Displaced Palestinians, who fled their houses due to Israeli strikes, look out from a window as they take shelter, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)
Displaced Palestinians, who fled their houses due to Israeli strikes, look out from a window as they take shelter, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)
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WHO Sends Over 1 Mln Polio Vaccines to Gaza to Protect Children 

Displaced Palestinians, who fled their houses due to Israeli strikes, look out from a window as they take shelter, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)
Displaced Palestinians, who fled their houses due to Israeli strikes, look out from a window as they take shelter, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)

The World Health Organization is sending more than one million polio vaccines to Gaza to be administered over the coming weeks to prevent children being infected after the virus was detected in sewage samples, its chief said on Friday.

"While no cases of polio have been recorded yet, without immediate action, it is just a matter of time before it reaches the thousands of children who have been left unprotected," Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in an opinion piece in Britain's The Guardian newspaper.

He wrote that children under five were most at risk from the viral disease, and especially infants under two since normal vaccination campaigns have been disrupted by more than nine months of conflict.

Poliomyelitis, which is spread mainly through the fecal-oral route, is a highly infectious virus that can invade the nervous system and cause paralysis. Cases of polio have declined by 99% worldwide since 1988 thanks to mass vaccination campaigns and efforts continue to eradicate it completely.

Israel's military said on Sunday it would start offering the polio vaccine to soldiers serving in the Gaza Strip after remnants of the virus were found in test samples in the enclave.

Besides polio, the UN reported last week a widespread increase in cases of Hepatitis A, dysentery and gastroenteritis as sanitary conditions deteriorate in Gaza, with sewage spilling into the streets near some camps for displaced people.