UPDATE - Egyptian foreign minister visits Sudan for bilateral talks after RSF takeover of El-Fasher

UPDATES WITH MORE DETAILS DETAILS, CHANGES DECK

By Betul Yilmaz and Rania Abu Shamala

ISTANBUL (AA) - Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty held talks with chairman of Sudan’s Transitional Sovereignty Council, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, in Port Sudan on Tuesday to discuss the ongoing conflict with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

A statement by the council said Burhan expressed his “gratitude and appreciation to the Egyptian government and people for standing with Sudan in all regional and international forums, and for their commitment to Sudan’s safety, security, stability, and sovereignty.”

Abdelatty, for his part, said Egypt and Sudan share identical views on water security, calling it “an existential matter for both peoples,” the statement added.

The top diplomat said he was briefed by the Sudanese leader on the situation on the ground in Sudan and the current humanitarian conditions in the country.

A statement by the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said Abdelatty reaffirmed Egypt’s “complete solidarity with Sudan and support for its stability, security, sovereignty, and the unity and integrity of its territory and national institutions, foremost among them the Sudanese Armed Forces.”

The foreign minister also expressed Egypt’s condemnation “of the violations and atrocities committed in the city of El-Fasher.”

Cairo “will continue its efforts to achieve stability in brotherly Sudan and actively engage in initiatives aimed at securing a ceasefire and ending the suffering of the Sudanese people – whether bilaterally or through regional and international frameworks.”

Sudan faces a worsening humanitarian crisis amid a bloody conflict between the army and the RSF since April 2023, which has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions of people.

On Oct. 26, the RSF seized control of El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, and committed massacres, according to local and international organizations.

Egypt has been a key backer of the Sudanese government in the ongoing conflict with the RSF. Cairo has been mediating as part of an international mechanism to reach a humanitarian truce in the country.

With the fall of El-Fasher, the RSF gained control of all five Darfur states in the west, out of Sudan’s 18 states, while the army controls most areas of the remaining 13 states in the south, north, east, and center, including the capital Khartoum.

Darfur makes up about one-fifth of Sudan’s territory, but most of the country’s 50 million people live in army-held areas.