CAIRO — A few days after Egypt and Sudan signed a military cooperation agreement March 2, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi visited Khartoum March 6, in a move that carried political and security messages against Ethiopia's decision to fill the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) reservoir without consulting Egypt and Sudan.
Sisi had not visited Khartoum since the Sudanese revolution and the ouster of President Omar al-Bashir in April 2019. The official and diplomatic relations between the two countries had gained momentum recently, culminating in the military cooperation agreement. The chief of staff of the Egyptian army, Lt. Gen. Mohamed Farid, who arrived in Khartoum March 2, described the agreement as “achieving an unprecedented level of military cooperation … at a time when Egypt and Sudan face common challenges and multiple threats to the national security of the two countries.”
