Major General Abbas Kamel, chief of the Egyptian General Intelligence Service GIS headed to South Sudan earlier today.
During his visit, Kamel held a meeting with South Sudan President Salva Kiir. The former delivered to the latter a message from President Abdel-Fattah El Sisi, in which, he asserted Egypt's support for bilateral ties and the importance of achieving stability between both countries.
“Egypt fully supports South Sudan and exerts efforts to achieve its security,” the message read.
The GIS head also met with his Sudanese counterpart and discussed ways to enhance security relations between the two brotherly countries.
“The meeting tackled regional and international issues of mutual interest,” Kamel added.
It is noteworthy that Egypt's relations with South Sudan are currently seeing an "unprecedented boom," El-Sisi said in a speech during a joint press conference with Kiir in January 2019, emphasizing Cairo's continued support for South Sudan's peace-building, stabilization and development efforts.
In September 2019, President Kiir signed a peace agreement with rebel factions to end a five-year civil war that has killed an estimated 400,000 million and crippled the country's development since it gained independence in 2011.
In his speech, El-Sisi urged the international community to fulfill its commitment to backing South Sudan in its advance towards development. The Egyptian president said the two countries look forward to further strengthening their ties.
"Our discussions today reflected the determination of the two countries to move forward with bilateral relations and push them to a wider level in a way that enables us to make the best use of the economic and investment opportunities available," El-Sisi said.
The two leaders last met in September in Beijing on the sidelines of the Forum on China–Africa Cooperation FOCAC 2018.
Egypt recognized South Sudan on 9 July 2011, making it the second country to do so. In addition, Egyptian former Prime Minister Essam Sharaf made his first foreign visit to Khartoum and Juba in the lead-up to the country's secession.
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