Kiir expresses ‘concerns’ over regional tensions during meeting with Al-Sisi

CAIRO, EGYPT – South Sudan President Salva Kiir Mayardit who traveled to the Egyptian capital Cairo on Sunday morning has met Egyptian President Abdelfattah Al-Sisi and the two leaders discussed various issues of bilateral interests and regional concerns, according to a statement issued by South Sudan’s ministry of foreign affairs.

Kiir met Al-Sisi on Sunday afternoon and held talks with President Al-Sisi in which the two leaders discussed bilateral relations and how to uphold them, according to a statement by the Egyptian presidency.

In the statement, South Sudan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation said President Salva Kiir Mayardit and his Egyptian counterparts Abdelfattah Al-Sisi discussed “several bilateral issues as well as matters of regional peace and security.”

The statement stressed that the people of South Sudan and Egypt “enjoy a longstanding history of friendship” and added that the North African country “is the first country in Africa and indeed the world to provide large numbers of scholarships to Southern Sudanese students soon after Sudan’s independence in 1956. As they studied in Egyptian Universities, they discovered the marginalization they were subjected to under the Sudan at that time.”

“Many of them went on to serve as part of the revolutionary forces at the forefront of the war of liberation. In fighting against their marginalization in the Sudan, they laid the early foundations for an independent South Sudan,” the statement added.

“Today, Egyptian-trained lawyers, doctors and engineers constitute the backbone of South Sudan’s civil service. These historical relations are the context in which we South Sudanese consider Egypt as a special ally in the region,” it said.

While pressing Egyptian role in regional matters, Kiir – according to the statement – “shared concerns over developing regional issues” and that “He recognized Egypt as a powerful state and encouraged President Al Sisi to further support efforts towards lasting peace in the region.”