Egypt Works to Facilitate Return of its Citizens from Sudan

Shoukry participates in a meeting on the situation in Sudan. (Egypt’s Foreign Affairs Ministry)
Shoukry participates in a meeting on the situation in Sudan. (Egypt’s Foreign Affairs Ministry)
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Egypt Works to Facilitate Return of its Citizens from Sudan

Shoukry participates in a meeting on the situation in Sudan. (Egypt’s Foreign Affairs Ministry)
Shoukry participates in a meeting on the situation in Sudan. (Egypt’s Foreign Affairs Ministry)

Egypt’s Foreign Ministry announced on Friday that the country’s mission office in Wadi Halfa was communicating with “the Sudanese authorities to facilitate the unimpeded return of Egyptian citizens through the Sudanese land crossings.”

The Ministry of Education has also contacted its educational mission in the country, whose staff accounts for around 151 teachers and administrators, to “check on their safety.”

A statement from the Egyptian Foreign Ministry stressed that the authorities were following up on the conditions of Egyptian citizens in Sudan, and “making every effort to ensure their safety.” It also published phone numbers to communicate with members of the country’s mission in the Sudanese city of Wadi Halfa.

The statement added: “The ministry continues, through its missions in Khartoum, Port Sudan and Wadi Halfa, to make all efforts and the necessary contacts to follow up on the conditions of the Egyptian community in Sudan during the crisis and to act quickly and effectively according to the developments.”

In turn, the Egyptian Minister of Education and Technical Education, Dr. Reda Hegazy, contacted on Friday Khaled Nasreddine, head of Egypt’s educational mission in Sudan, and a number of members of the mission, to convey his wishes on the occasion of Eid Al-Fitr, and to check on their conditions in light of the recent developments.

Egypt’s Foreign Minister, Sameh Shoukry, underlined the need to give priority to preserving the Sudanese state institutions and preventing them from collapse.

In remarks on Thursday evening, Shoukry reiterated that it was not permissible to deal with the state’s official bodies and unofficial entities on equal footing.

The minister was speaking during a virtual ministerial meeting of the African Union on the situation in Sudan, with the participation of foreign ministers and senior officials of Sudan’s neighboring countries, Kenya, Djibouti, the permanent members of the Security Council, the African members of the Council, Norway and a number of Arab countries.

The meeting was also attended by the Secretary General of the United Nations, the Secretary General of the League of Arab States, the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy in the European Union, and the Executive Secretary of IGAD.

Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ambassador Ahmed Abu Zeid said the meeting aimed at joining efforts to make a collective move that aims to end the military confrontations in Sudan.



Senior US Republican Demands Biden Administration Shut Gaza Aid Pier

 A US Army soldier gestures as trucks loaded with humanitarian aid arrive at the US-built floating pier Trident before reaching the beach on the coast of the Gaza Strip, Tuesday, June 25, 2024. (AP)
A US Army soldier gestures as trucks loaded with humanitarian aid arrive at the US-built floating pier Trident before reaching the beach on the coast of the Gaza Strip, Tuesday, June 25, 2024. (AP)
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Senior US Republican Demands Biden Administration Shut Gaza Aid Pier

 A US Army soldier gestures as trucks loaded with humanitarian aid arrive at the US-built floating pier Trident before reaching the beach on the coast of the Gaza Strip, Tuesday, June 25, 2024. (AP)
A US Army soldier gestures as trucks loaded with humanitarian aid arrive at the US-built floating pier Trident before reaching the beach on the coast of the Gaza Strip, Tuesday, June 25, 2024. (AP)

The Republican lawmaker who leads the House Armed Services Committee has written to the Biden administration formally demanding it shut down its aid pier off the coast Gaza, calling the operation ineffective, risky and a waste of money.

The offshore floating pier, announced by Biden in March as a response to the threat of famine in the Gaza Strip, was constructed off the coast of the enclave by the US military as a way to bring in food and other aid supplies.

The US military has been authorized to operate it until the end of July, but a US Agency for International Development official said this week that the administration could seek to extend it for at least another month.

"I urge the Administration to immediately cease this failed operation before further catastrophe occurs and consider alternative means of land and air-based humanitarian aid delivery," House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers wrote in a letter seen by Reuters.

The letter, sent to White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, has not been previously reported.

Rogers has long opposed the pier and has called in the past for it to be dismantled, but he had not previously expressed that view in a formal written letter to the administration.

His armed services committee is the Pentagon's top oversight body in the House of Representatives, and formal requests from its chairman traditionally require a response from Pentagon officials.

Aid first began arriving via the US-built pier on May 17 into Gaza, where nearly all the 2.3 million residents have been displaced by Israel's campaign against the Hamas movement.

But rough seas have damaged the pier, forcing repairs, and poor weather has limited the number of days the pier has been operational. Most of the supplies that have reached the shore have yet to be distributed by UN aid agencies which say their operations have been limited by insecurity.

"As of June 19, JLOTS had only been operational about 10 days and had only moved 3,415 metric tons onto the beach in Gaza," Rogers wrote, using the US military's acronym for the pier system, known as Joint Logistics Over the Shore.

According to US military data, as of Tuesday, 8,332 pallets had been delivered via the pier. But around 84% of them have been sitting on Gaza's coast in a marshalling area waiting to be picked up by the United Nations for distribution.

The World Food Program paused deliveries earlier this month over security concerns.

Reuters was given rare access to the US military-run pier off Gaza on Tuesday and saw aid pallets being moved from a vessel onto the 1,200-foot (370 m)-long pier as it bobbed around with the incoming waves. The pallets were then taken by trucks to the coast.

The operation is complex, involving about 1,000 US military personnel. The Pentagon estimates the first 90 days of operation will cost about $230 million.

Rogers also noted that three US servicemembers suffered non-combat injuries while deployed on the operation.

"I urge the Administration to immediately cease this failed operation before further catastrophe occurs and consider alternative means of land and air-based humanitarian aid delivery," Rogers wrote.