Egypt, Eritrea Agree to Face Threats in African Horn, Red Sea

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi meets with Eritrean Foreign Minister Osman Saleh in Cairo (Egyptian Presidency)
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi meets with Eritrean Foreign Minister Osman Saleh in Cairo (Egyptian Presidency)
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Egypt, Eritrea Agree to Face Threats in African Horn, Red Sea

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi meets with Eritrean Foreign Minister Osman Saleh in Cairo (Egyptian Presidency)
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi meets with Eritrean Foreign Minister Osman Saleh in Cairo (Egyptian Presidency)

Egypt and Eritrea on Thursday expressed keenness to continue coordination and consultations at various levels to face threats in the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea and support regional security and stability.
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi met with Eritrean Foreign Minister Osman Saleh in Cairo, in the presence of Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty and Head of the Egyptian General Intelligence Service Major General Abbas Kamel.
During the meeting, Sisi received a letter from his Eritrean counterpart Isaias Afwerki, in which he looked forward to enhancing consultation and coordination on issues of common interest, a presidential statement said.
Sisi confirmed Egypt’s keenness to advance efforts to deepen the distinguished relations and cooperation between the two countries, so as to benefit the two peoples and achieve their common interests, in light of the mounting regional challenges that call for intensifying discussions on ways to address them.
The meeting touched on the regional situation, particularly issues and threats in the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea, the statement said.
Both countries confirmed keenness to continue joint coordination and consultation at various levels, so as to support security and stability in the region.
The meeting comes amid escalated tensions in the Horn of Africa after Somaliland agreed in January to grant 20 kilometers of its coastline for 50 years to Addis Ababa, through a “lease” agreement.
Egypt and Somalia rejected the deal, which prompted Arab foreign ministers to convene urgently on January 17 via a virtual conference.
Somaliland, a former British protectorate, declared independence from Somalia in 1991, but the move was not recognized internationally.
The Mogadishu government said it would address this agreement by all legal means, and described it as “a blatant violation of its sovereignty.”
Egypt aims at boosting cooperation with the countries of the Horn of Africa. Last month, Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty embarked on a tour operated by EgyptAir to Djibouti and Mogadishu, marking the first direct flights between Egypt and these two African nations.

 



Lebanon’s Jumblatt Visits Syria, Hoping for a Post-Assad Reset in Troubled Relations

Walid Jumblatt (C), the Druze former leader of Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP), and his son and current party head Taymur Jumblatt (C-L) meet with Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (R) and interim prime minister Mohammad al-Bashir (L) during a visit to Damascus on December 22, 2024. (AFP)
Walid Jumblatt (C), the Druze former leader of Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP), and his son and current party head Taymur Jumblatt (C-L) meet with Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (R) and interim prime minister Mohammad al-Bashir (L) during a visit to Damascus on December 22, 2024. (AFP)
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Lebanon’s Jumblatt Visits Syria, Hoping for a Post-Assad Reset in Troubled Relations

Walid Jumblatt (C), the Druze former leader of Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP), and his son and current party head Taymur Jumblatt (C-L) meet with Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (R) and interim prime minister Mohammad al-Bashir (L) during a visit to Damascus on December 22, 2024. (AFP)
Walid Jumblatt (C), the Druze former leader of Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP), and his son and current party head Taymur Jumblatt (C-L) meet with Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (R) and interim prime minister Mohammad al-Bashir (L) during a visit to Damascus on December 22, 2024. (AFP)

Former head of Lebanon’s Progressive Socialist Party (PSP), Druze leader Walid Jumblatt held talks on Sunday with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, whose group led the overthrow of Syria's President Bashar Assad, with both expressing hope for a new era in relations between their countries.

Jumblatt was a longtime critic of Syria's involvement in Lebanon and blamed Assad's father, former President Hafez Assad, for the assassination of his own father decades ago. He is the most prominent Lebanese politician to visit Syria since the Assad family's 54-year rule came to an end.

“We salute the Syrian people for their great victories and we salute you for your battle that you waged to get rid of oppression and tyranny that lasted over 50 years,” said Jumblatt.

He expressed hope that Lebanese-Syrian relations “will return to normal.”

Jumblatt's father, Kamal, was killed in 1977 in an ambush near a Syrian roadblock during Syria's military intervention in Lebanon's civil war. The younger Jumblatt was a critic of the Assads, though he briefly allied with them at one point to gain influence in Lebanon's ever-shifting political alignments.

“Syria was a source of concern and disturbance, and its interference in Lebanese affairs was negative,” al-Sharaa said, referring to the Assad government. “Syria will no longer be a case of negative interference in Lebanon," he said, pledging that it would respect Lebanese sovereignty.

Al-Sharaa also repeated longstanding allegations that Assad's government was behind the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, which was followed by other killings of prominent Lebanese critics of Assad.

Last year, the United Nations closed an international tribunal investigating the assassination after it convicted three members of Lebanon's Hezbollah — an ally of Assad — in absentia. Hezbollah denied involvement in the massive Feb. 14, 2005 bombing, which killed Hariri and 21 others.

“We hope that all those who committed crimes against the Lebanese will be held accountable, and that fair trials will be held for those who committed crimes against the Syrian people,” Jumblatt said.