Egypt's acting intelligence chief Abbas Kamel met on Saturday with Sudanese president Omar Al-Bashir in Khartoum, where they discussed the importance of communication between the two countries, Sudan News Agency (SUNA) reported. Earlier on Saturday, Kamel met with his Sudanese counterpart Salah Abdullah Mohamed Saleh, Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour, and Minister of Defence Awad Mohamed Ahmed bin Awaf. They discussed boosting bilateral relations, especially in the field of security. Kamel's visit comes within the framework of the recently-formed quadrilateral committee comprising the foreign ministry and intelligence heads of both nations. The committee was formed earlier this year on the orders of Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi and Al-Bashir. Kamel and Al-Bashir also discussed major challenges in the region, which should not affect the relations between the two countries, SUNA added. Kamel's visit comes days after the Sudanese ambassador to Cairo returned to Egypt, nearly two months after being recalled to Khartoum due to an apparent heightening of tensions between the two nations. The government of Sudan offered no public explanation for the ambassador's recall. Relations between the two countries had been strained due to Sudan's claims of sovereignty over Egypt's southern Halayeb Triangle region, as well as the Sudanese stance in the talks on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. In February, a newly-formed committee, comprised of the foreign ministers and intelligence chiefs of Egypt and Sudan, met in Cairo to "remove any flaws that could hamper this brotherly relationship, solidarity and unified destiny in the face of bilateral challenges." The committee was formed following a tripartite summit between the leaders of Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia in January, where El-Sisi affirmed that Egypt does not interfere in other countries' affairs, and has no intention of fighting its brothers in Sudan.
