CAIRO/ISTANBUL

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Wednesday held talks in Cairo with Masad Boulos, senior adviser to US President Donald Trump on Arab and African affairs, to discuss developments in Sudan and broader regional issues.

The meeting was attended by Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, Intelligence Chief Hassan Rashad, and Evgenia Sidrias, deputy chief of mission at the US Embassy in Cairo, according to a statement from the Egyptian presidency.

Discussions centered on the situation in Sudan, with Sisi reaffirming Egypt’s support for all regional and international efforts aimed at restoring security and stability in the country.

He stressed Egypt’s firm position in backing Sudan’s sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity, and reiterated Cairo’s outright rejection of any attempts to undermine Sudan’s security or stability.

Sisi emphasized what he described as the “organic link” between Egyptian and Sudanese national security, underlining that Egypt would not allow threats to Sudan to jeopardize regional stability.

Egypt and the United States are both members of the so-called Quad, alongside Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which coordinates international efforts to end the conflict in Sudan and support a return to peace and stability.

Sudan has been engulfed in a deadly conflict since April 2023, when fighting erupted between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) over a dispute on integrating the paramilitary force into the national military.

Of Sudan’s 18 states, the RSF controls all five states of the Darfur region in the west, except for some northern parts of North Darfur that remain under army control. The army, in turn, holds most areas of the remaining 13 states in the south, north, east and center, including the capital Khartoum.

The conflict has since killed thousands of people and displaced millions of others.