Egyptian forces arrive in Sudan ahead of ‘Guardians of the Nile’ joint military maneuver with Sudan

CAIRO -21 May 2021: Number of Egyptian forces arrived in Sudan, Friday in preparation for the launch of the joint military maneuver ‘Guardians of the Nile’ to confront any possible threats, according to media reports.

It was stated that the Egyptian forces arrived at Khartoum Air Base alongside large columns of ground forces and vehicles that arrived earlier by sea.

‘Guardians of the Nile’ maneuver comes as an extension of the joint training cooperation between the two countries. It was preceded by the Nile Eagles 1 and 2 air joint maneuver, all of which aim to exchange military expertise, enhance cooperation and unify working methods to address the expected threats to the two countries.

Last April, Egyptian Chief of Staff Mohamed Farid and Sudanese counterpart Mohamed Othman al-Hussein attended the conclusion of joint air exercises "Nile Eagles 2" held in Sudan.

The day began by displaying the activities carried out by Egyptian and Sudanese air forces and Special Forces elements since March 31.

Later on, a number of multirole fighter jets were prepared, and took off to mimic accomplishing missions of interception and defense. That is in addition to attack operations against targets in the depth, and in defense of vital targets. Equally, Special Forces carried out a simulation of storming terrorist hideouts.

Spokesperson of the Egyptian Armed Forces Tamer al-Refai indicated in a statement that the exercises showed the decent level the elements participating in the exercises have attained. He pointed out that those who excelled during the program were honored by the Egyptian and Sudanese chiefs of staff.

In his speech, Lieutenant General Mohamed Farid delivered the greetings of President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, commander-in-chief of the Egyptian Armed Forces, and Minister of Defense and Military Production Mohamed Zaki, general commander of the Egyptian Armed Forces.