President Abdel Fattah El Sisi’s visit to the Sudanese capital of Khartoum Saturday was the first by the Egyptian leader to the Sudanese capital since the downfall of the Omar al-Bashir regime in April 2019.
It comes only four days after a high-level Egyptian army delegation, led by Chief of Staff Mohamed Farid, signed a military co-operation pact with Sudan in Khartoum.
On the same day, Sudanese Foreign Minister Mariam al-Sadeq al-Mahdi was in Cairo to hold talks with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry. President Sisi also received her at the Presidential Palace.
The Sudanese foreign minister’s visit to Cairo also followed a series of visits by different Sudanese officials to the Egyptian capital, during which they discussed co-operation and coordination.
However, President Sisi’s visit to Khartoum yesterday is less about the past and more about the present and the future.
The visit comes as Egypt and Sudan, two Arab and African nations, work together to protect their rights to the waters of the River Nile, which are threatened by Ethiopia’s construction of a gigantic dam and the expected second filling of the dam reservoir during the rainy season in June or July.
The visit also comes amid high tension in eastern Africa and the Horn of Africa region, which have direct bearing on regional security and stability.
Egypt and Sudan also co-operate in counterterrorism and Red Sea security, a region which is also very important to stability and security of the two nations.
