Battles renewed between the Sudanese army, supported by the “Joint Force of Armed Struggle Movements,” and the “Rapid Support Forces” in the vicinity of the city of Al-Khoi in West Kordofan state. There were conflicting accounts regarding the results of the confrontations that broke out yesterday morning (Friday) and have continued since then, while it was not possible to independently verify the information circulating regarding the areas of actual control.
The Joint Force said, in a statement published on its official Facebook page, that its forces and the army took control of the town of Sarif Ankush and its adjacent areas, explaining that a field commander for the Rapid Support Forces, whose name was not specified, was killed during the battles.
For its part, the “Coordination of Resistance Committees” in El Fasher, which are popular committees loyal to the “Joint Force,” said that the army and the forces supporting it took control of the areas surrounding the city of Al-Khoi, while platforms loyal to the “Rapid Support” said that their forces set up an ambush for the attacking force, and it was not possible to independently verify the account of the ambush, or the toll of the recorded losses.
While the candidate for the position of the new US ambassador to Egypt, Nick Oberheiden, expressed his country’s administration’s support for Egyptian rights to the Nile waters, and Washington’s endeavor to cooperate with Cairo in resolving the Ethiopian “Renaissance Dam” issue, the official spokesman for the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Nader Zaki, told Asharq Al-Awsat, “The position of Egypt and Sudan is firm and declared regarding the rejection of any unilateral measures in this issue.”
During the past hours, a video clip of Oberheiden’s speech was circulated during a hearing before members of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, on Wednesday, in which he said that “US President Donald Trump believes in Egypt’s rights to the Nile River.”
Oberheiden stressed that “this file will be one of his priorities during his work in Cairo if his appointment as ambassador is confirmed, and that he will cooperate with Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdel Aty and Egyptian Minister of Water Resources Hani Sweilem, in order to resolve this file, which represented a major and decisive challenge for Egypt.”
At the same time, he praised Egypt's role in cooperating with the United States on several issues. The most important of which is the war file in Gaza and establishing stability in Libya and Sudan, explaining that Egypt is “a strategic partner and ally of the United States, and it is also a country with a great history and ancient civilization,” as he put it.
Last June, US President Donald Trump announced the nomination of lawyer Oberheiden to serve as US ambassador to Egypt. According to American media, Oberheiden is one of the most prominent lawyers specializing in federal criminal defense cases, government investigations, and national security within the United States, where he gained wide fame by handling complex legal files that included government officials, major companies, and prominent public figures.
Commenting on Oberheiden’s statements, Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ambassador Nader Zaki told Asharq Al-Awsat, “The United States previously played a role in the Renaissance Dam file, and we reached a reasonable agreement that achieves a measure of everyone’s interests,” adding: “The delegations of Egypt and Sudan went to sign at the White House in February 2020, and Ethiopia did not attend.”
He explained, “The position of Egypt and Sudan is clear and announced, specifically during the recent meeting in Cairo, which included the ministers of foreign affairs and irrigation of the two countries. “There is complete consensus on rejecting any unilateral measures.”
During the current year, US President Donald Trump’s repeated statements about the “Renaissance Dam” raised questions in Egypt about possible mediation efforts in light of the escalating tensions between Cairo and Addis Ababa over this file, but despite the many statements, the issue has not witnessed clear American intervention since the 2020 negotiations in America during Trump’s first term, which ultimately collapsed.
On more than one occasion, Trump said: “Ethiopia built that dam, which is one of the largest dams in the world, and America funded it, of course, which is a very (stupid) thing,” as he described it, stressing that he supports Egypt’s right to the Nile waters, and that he will work on a final solution to the issue, which has not happened so far.
The disputes between Cairo and Addis Ababa over the “Renaissance Dam” continue, as negotiations were frozen in 2024, and last month the matter reached the point of mutual expulsion of diplomats.
Regarding Oberheiden’s statements about Gaza, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman said, “There is a plan called President Trump’s plan, of which only part of its first phase has been implemented.”
He added, "Egypt supports the implementation of the plan and calls for it... (Hamas) showed a response, but we did not find a response from Israel. We look forward to the American government pressing towards completing the first phase and starting the second phase."
Zaki explained, “Egypt confirms its support for implementing the Trump plan in its various stages, consolidating the ceasefire, ensuring the access of humanitarian aid, completing the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, empowering the Palestinian National Committee to manage the Strip, and proceeding with early recovery and reconstruction without displacing the Palestinians.”
He continued: “Egypt also stresses the need for the transitional arrangements to lead to the Palestinian Authority restoring its full responsibilities in the Gaza Strip, preserving the unity of the Palestinian territories, and not conditioning the implementation of the plan on Israeli internal political calculations, leading to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state,” according to Zaki.
The Egyptian expert specializing in African affairs, Dr. Raafat Mahmoud, said, “The files of the Renaissance Dam and the Gaza Strip, although they represent two different areas of American interests, they agree on the importance of Egypt in Washington’s strategic calculations.”
He added in a statement to Asharq Al-Awsat: “With regard to the Renaissance Dam file, the statements do not yet mean a shift in the American position on Ethiopia. His explicit reference to the profound importance of the Nile River to Egypt places water security among the issues that the next American ambassador must deal with in his relationship with Cairo, but in his words there is no indication of reviving the 2020 Washington Agreement, adopting an Egyptian position on the rules of filling and operating, or even imposing American pressure on Ethiopia.
He continued, saying: “Here, Cairo can present the issue to Washington as an issue of regional stability, and not just a bilateral dispute.”
Regarding the Gaza file, Mahmoud said: “I believe that the American message is clearer, and perhaps more influential, as Oberheiden focused on continuing to implement Trump’s comprehensive peace plan in Gaza in cooperation with Egypt, and this has several indications; Among them is that Egypt is a partner in implementing the American vision, and not just a mediator to stop the war, and that Washington wants an Egyptian role in the post-war arrangements.
“Unifying political power” in Libya and pushing the political process towards holding elections topped the talks between the head of Egyptian intelligence, Major General Hassan Rashad, with the Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Libyan National Army, Lieutenant General Saddam Haftar, on Friday, in Cairo, in an Egyptian move that comes days after Foreign Minister Badr Abdel Ati’s visit to the capital, Tripoli, and his meeting with officials in the west of the country.
Cairo included the talks between Rashad and Saddam Haftar as part of its openness to the various Libyan parties concerned, and its efforts to preserve the unity of the Libyan state and the integrity of its lands, as reported by the Cairo News satellite channel, in reference to the continuation of Egyptian movements on more than one path to deal with the Libyan crisis, and not to limit its communications to one party or another.
Saddam Haftar's visit to Egypt gains its importance from its timing, as it came after Abdel Ati's visit to Tripoli, last Saturday, where he met with the head of the interim "national unity" government, Abdel Hamid Al-Dabaiba, and the head of the Presidential Council, Mohamed Al-Manfi, and discussed with them developments in the political situation and ways to strengthen bilateral relations.
According to observers, the succession of the two visits reflects Cairo’s interest in maintaining communication channels with the main power centers in eastern and western Libya, at a time when the country is still suffering from a political, institutional and military division between the Dabaiba government in Tripoli, and the government appointed by the House of Representatives headed by Osama Hammad in the east of the country, and which is supported by the National Army led by Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar.
These moves coincide with the continuation of international efforts aimed at settling the crisis, whether through the “road map” led by the United Nations Support Mission in Libya, or the proposed American initiative to share power between the east and west of the country, amid disagreements between the Libyan parties regarding the mechanisms for implementing political entitlements and the arrangements for the next stage.
The talks between Rashad and Saddam Haftar were not limited to political issues, as they dealt, according to the announced information, with developing a working mechanism to activate joint strategic and economic projects between Egypt and Libya, which reflects Cairo’s interest in expanding the scope of cooperation with the Libyan side, especially in the energy, infrastructure, and transportation sectors.
This comes after talks held by Abdel Ati, last Saturday, with the Minister of Oil and Gas in charge in the “National Unity” government, Khalifa Abdel Sadiq, which discussed ways to enhance cooperation in the fields of energy, complete Libyan oil refining projects in Egypt, and re-export it abroad, in addition to rehabilitating Libyan refineries, and completing electrical interconnection projects between the two countries.
