Egypt Launches Development Projects to Support Nile Basin Countries

A general view of buildings by the Nile River in Cairo, Egypt July 2, 2019. Reuters
A general view of buildings by the Nile River in Cairo, Egypt July 2, 2019. Reuters
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Egypt Launches Development Projects to Support Nile Basin Countries

A general view of buildings by the Nile River in Cairo, Egypt July 2, 2019. Reuters
A general view of buildings by the Nile River in Cairo, Egypt July 2, 2019. Reuters

Egypt continues to launch a number of projects to support the Nile Basin countries and bolster ties.

The Egypt-based Arab Organization for Industrialization (AOI) has recently established a solar power plant in Tororo district in Uganda.

The project comes in line with President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s directives to enhance joint cooperation with the Nile Basin countries and all African countries in various fields of industrialization, AOI Chairman Lieutenant-General Abdel Moneim al-Terras stated on Thursday.

The organization is keen to employ all its manufacturing and technological capacities to participate in the various development projects taking place in Uganda and all the African countries.

The AOI supports renewable energy projects through the Egyptian Initiative for Development in the Nile Basin Countries, Terras noted.

He explained that the plant established operates on a photovoltaic system with a capacity of 4 megawatts, pointing to the organization’s keenness to exchange expertise and train technical workers in Uganda.

The solar panels installed at the plant are produced by the Arab Renewable Energy Company (ARECO), a subsidiary of the AOI. They are efficient and were manufactured in line with international quality standards, Terras said.

The AOI is currently implementing many renewable energy projects in several African countries to achieve the maximum benefit of solar energy as a clean source of electricity generation.

Egypt has implemented many projects with the Nile Basin countries over the past years in the fields of water and electrical grids, including dams for rainwater harvesting and underground drinking water stations to provide pure drinking water in remote areas, fish farms and river anchors, as well as projects in the field of disinfecting waterways.

The projects include building seven rainwater harvesting dams in Uganda, drilling 180 underground wells in Kenya and installing a lifting unit to transport river water to communities near waterways in Wau city, south of Sudan.



Sudan’s Burhan Shakes up Army, Tightens Control

General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan (C) and his new senior officers. (Facebook)
General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan (C) and his new senior officers. (Facebook)
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Sudan’s Burhan Shakes up Army, Tightens Control

General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan (C) and his new senior officers. (Facebook)
General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan (C) and his new senior officers. (Facebook)

Sudan's army chief appointed a raft of new senior officers on Monday in a reshuffle that strengthened his hold on the military as he consolidates control of central and eastern regions and fights fierce battles in the west.

Sudan's army, which controls the government, is fighting a more than two-year civil war with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, its former partners in power, that has created the world's largest humanitarian crisis.

General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan made new appointments to the Joint Chiefs of Staff a day after announcing the retirement of several long-serving officers, some of whom have gained a measure of fame over the past two years.

Burhan, who serves as Sudan's internationally recognized head of state, kept the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mohamed Othman al-Hussein, but appointed a new inspector general and a new head of the air force.

Another decree from Burhan on Sunday brought all the other armed groups fighting alongside the army - including former Darfur rebels, Islamist brigades, civilians who joined the war effort and tribal militias - under his control.

Sudanese politicians praised the decision, saying it would prevent the development of other centres of power in the military, and potentially the future formation of other parallel forces like the RSF.

The RSF has its roots in militias armed by the military in the early 2000s to fight in Darfur. It was allowed to develop parallel structures and supply lines.

The reshuffle comes a week after Burhan met US senior Africa adviser Massad Boulos in Switzerland, where issues including a transition to civilian rule were discussed, government sources said.

The war erupted in April 2023 when the army and the RSF clashed over plans to integrate their forces.

The RSF made quick gains in central Sudan, including the capital Khartoum, but the army pushed them westward this year, leading to an intensification in fighting in al-Fashir in Darfur.