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Egypt Backs Congo as Chairman of African Union

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi receives a written message from Jean Le on Ngandu, DR Congo’s permanent representative to the African Union, in Cairo, 3 October 2021. Egyptian Presidency
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi receives a written message from Jean Le on Ngandu, DR Congo’s permanent representative to the African Union, in Cairo, 3 October 2021. Egyptian Presidency
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Egypt Backs Congo as Chairman of African Union

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi receives a written message from Jean Le on Ngandu, DR Congo’s permanent representative to the African Union, in Cairo, 3 October 2021. Egyptian Presidency
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi receives a written message from Jean Le on Ngandu, DR Congo’s permanent representative to the African Union, in Cairo, 3 October 2021. Egyptian Presidency

Egypt on Sunday backed the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the current chair of the African Union (AU), and its efforts in overseeing joint African action this year.

Sisi received Sunday a letter from his Congolese counterpart Felix- Antoine Tshisekedi, current AU chairman, handed by Special envoy of the Congolese president and Permanent Representative to the AU Jean Léon Ngandu Ilunga during a meeting in Cairo, in the presence of Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and the chargé d'affaires of the Congolese embassy in Egypt.

The letter conveyed the Congolese president's appreciation of Egypt's keen efforts in support of the DRC during its current chairmanship of the AU.

It also hailed the brotherly ties between the two countries, voicing an interest in pushing these ties forward.

Sisi stressed Egypt's commitment to maintain its support to DRCongo to enable it to lead joint African action as chairman of the AU for 2021.

The statement did not mention whether the two sides discussed the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). It nevertheless stressed that the meeting dealt with a raft of priority issues on the AU agenda.

Sunday’s meeting came two weeks after Congo presented an initiative to solve the GERD dispute between Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia.

Last month, DRC’s Foreign Minister Christophe Lutundula visited Cairo, Khartoum and Addis Ababa for talks with leaders on ways to help find a legal solution to the dispute.

In mid-September, the UN Security Council issued a statement encouraging Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan to resume negotiations, under the AU president to finalize a binding legal agreement on filling and operating the dam.

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Lebanon Military Says One Soldier Killed, 18 Hurt in Israeli Strike on Army Center

Lebanese army soldiers and people stand at the site of an Israeli strike in the town of Baaloul, in the western Bekaa Valley, Lebanon October 19, 2024. REUTERS/Maher Abou Taleb
Lebanese army soldiers and people stand at the site of an Israeli strike in the town of Baaloul, in the western Bekaa Valley, Lebanon October 19, 2024. REUTERS/Maher Abou Taleb
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Lebanon Military Says One Soldier Killed, 18 Hurt in Israeli Strike on Army Center

Lebanese army soldiers and people stand at the site of an Israeli strike in the town of Baaloul, in the western Bekaa Valley, Lebanon October 19, 2024. REUTERS/Maher Abou Taleb
Lebanese army soldiers and people stand at the site of an Israeli strike in the town of Baaloul, in the western Bekaa Valley, Lebanon October 19, 2024. REUTERS/Maher Abou Taleb

An Israeli strike on a Lebanese army center on Sunday killed one soldier and wounded 18 others, the Lebanese military said.

It was the latest in a series of Israeli strikes that have killed over 40 Lebanese troops, even as the military has largely kept to the sidelines in the war between Israel and Hezbollah.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which has said previous strikes on Lebanese troops were accidental and that they are not a target of its campaign against Hezbollah.

Lebanon's caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, condemned it as an assault on US-led ceasefire efforts, calling it a “direct, bloody message rejecting all efforts and ongoing contacts” to end the war.

“(Israel is) again writing in Lebanese blood a brazen rejection of the solution that is being discussed,” a statement from his office read.

The strike occurred in southwestern Lebanon on the coastal road between Tyre and Naqoura, where there has been heavy fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.

Hezbollah began firing rockets, missiles and drones into Israel after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack out of the Gaza Strip ignited the war there. Hezbollah has portrayed the attacks as an act of solidarity with the Palestinians and Hamas. Iran supports both armed groups.

Israel has launched retaliatory airstrikes since the rocket fire began, and in September the low-level conflict erupted into all-out war, as Israel launched waves of airstrikes across large parts of Lebanon and killed Hezbollah's top leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and several of his top commanders.

Israeli airstrikes early Saturday pounded central Beirut, killing at least 20 people and wounding 66, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry. Hezbollah has continued to fire regular barrages into Israel, forcing people to race for shelters and occasionally killing or wounding them.

Israeli attacks have killed more than 3,500 people in Lebanon, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry. The fighting has displaced about 1.2 million people, or a quarter of Lebanon’s population.

On the Israeli side, about 90 soldiers and nearly 50 civilians have been killed by bombardments in northern Israel and in battle following Israel's ground invasion in early October. Around 60,000 Israelis have been displaced from the country's north.

Hezbollah fired barrages of rockets into northern and central Israel on Sunday, some of which were intercepted.

Israel's Magen David Adom rescue service said it was treating two people in the central city of Petah Tikva, a 23-year-old man who was lightly wounded by a blast and a 70-year-old woman suffering from smoke inhalation from a car that caught fire. The first responders said they also treated two women in their 50s who were wounded in northern Israel.

It was unclear whether the injuries and damage were caused by the rockets or interceptors.

The Biden administration has spent months trying to broker a ceasefire, and US envoy Amos Hochstein was back in the region last week.

The emerging agreement would pave the way for the withdrawal of Hezbollah fighters and Israeli troops from southern Lebanon below the Litani River in accordance with the UN Security Council resolution that ended the 2006 war. Lebanese troops would patrol the area, with the presence of UN peacekeepers.