Sisi, CIA Director Discuss Mideast Tensions, Afghanistan

On Sunday, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi held talks with US Central Intelligence Agency chief William Burns on the situation in the Palestinian territories, Libya and Afghanistan, according to the president’s office.

The talks in Cairo covered “a number of regional issues of common interest especially tensions in the Middle East as well as Afghanistan, the Renaissance Dam (in Ethiopia) and the crisis in Libya”, Egypt’s western neighbor, it said in a statement, without giving details.

Egypt brokered a Gaza ceasefire in May after 11 days of strikes between Israel and Palestinian militants.

With regard to Ethiopia, Cairo has garnered critical support from Washington over its water rights being adversely affected by Addis Ababa’s mammoth dam project.

Burns, an Oxford-educated scholar who authored a book on Egypt-US relations, visited Israel and the West Bank last week.