Minister of Defence and Military Production and Commander-in-Chief General Mohamed Zaki travelled to Sudan last weekend for talks with senior officials in Khartoum. In addition to meeting with President Omar Al-Bashir, General Zaki and his delegation met with his Sudanese counterpart General Awad Mohamed Bin Ouf and Chief of Staff General Kamal Abdel-Marouf. During his meeting with Zaki, Sudan's president hailed relations between Sudan and Egypt and the historical ties that bind the two countries, an Egyptian Ministry of Defence communiqué reported. In return, General Zaki stressed the similarity of Cairo and Khartoum's view of regional security challenges and threats and similarities in the political outlooks of the two states.The talks covered issues of mutual concern and avenues for future cooperation and coordination between the Egyptian and Sudanese armed forces, including joint training exercises, border security, counter-terrorism, and fighting cross-border crimes and illegal immigration. Sudanese Defence Minister General Bin Ouf emphasised Khartoum's eagerness to strengthen military and security cooperation between the Sudanese and Egyptian armed forces, the need to unify positions on the challenges facing the region and to work together to promote security and stability. In a statement to the press in Khartoum following the meetings, Sudanese Chief of Staff General Abdel-Marouf described the talks between the ministers of defence as “fruitful”. The two sides agreed to establish joint projects between their armed forces, to expand joint training sessions for officers and non-commissioned officers and to increase enrolment opportunities for each other's cadets at military academies. According to General Abdel-Marouf, the two sides also agreed to conduct joint border patrols and tighten border security. With regard to the latter, the two sides hope to reach an agreement on the creation of a joint border force in the near future. The purpose of such measures, he said, is to fight terrorism and cross-border crime, to tighten border security and to ensure security and stability in both countries. General Abdel-Marouf, whose statement was posted on the Sudanese Ministry of Defence website, also reported that Cairo and Khartoum had agreed to boost intelligence and security cooperation, develop joint intelligence training and upgrade coordination on shared regional issues of concern. The two sides also agreed to develop partnerships in the service and investment sectors.In the interest of sustaining close cooperation and coordination Egyptian and Sudanese military officials agreed to hold annual meetings between their defence ministers and between their chiefs of staff, biannual meetings between military intelligence chiefs, and quarterly meetings at the liaison officer level. Cairo and Khartoum will host the meetings in rotation. The senior military officials also stressed the importance of stationing liaison officers in Halfa and Aswan in order to monitor any border security breaches on either side. The security of their countries is a common concern, said the officials, and constant bilateral strategic and security coordination is needed to contend with a host of regional threats and developments. Officials held closed talks during which they addressed issues of mutual concern. Describing the discussions as frank and open, Abdel-Marouf said there is “a joint understanding, and strong resolve on both sides emanating from the mutual will embodied in the recent exchange of visits between presidents Al-Bashir and Al-Sisi recently and the visit by the [Sudanese] defence minister to Egypt at the end of last year, the visit of the Egyptian chief-of-staff to Sudan in August and the visits of the director of intelligence and border guards.”
