CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Monday said Egyptian troops held in Sudan were merely there to conduct exercises with their Sudanese counterparts and not to support any of the warring parties.
After clashes erupted across Sudan between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the army on Saturday, the RSF shared a video they said showed Egyptian troops who had “surrendered” to them in the northern town of Merowe, about halfway between the Sudanese capital Khartoum and the border with Egypt.
The video showed a number of men dressed in army fatigues crouched on the ground and speaking to members of the RSF, Sudan’s main paramilitary group, in an Egyptian Arabic dialect.
In a speech broadcast by Egyptian state television after Sisi chaired a meeting of the Supreme Council of Armed Forces late on Monday, the president said he is in contact with the RSF to ensure the safety of Egyptian soldiers in Sudan.
RSF leader General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, better known as Hemedti, told Sky News Arabia TV that the Egyptian soldiers were safe, and that the RSF had provided them with food and water and was ready to facilitate their return.
“We hope to get back our troops as soon as possible,” Sisi added.
Sisi also said Egypt was in regular contact with the Sudanese army and the RSF to “encourage them to accept a ceasefire and spare the blood of the Sudanese people.”
(Reporting by Moaz Abd-Alaziz and Hatem Maher in Cairo; Editing by Chris Reese and Matthew Lewis)
