Egyptian ambassador discusses Sudanese refugee crisis with EU Commissioner

CAIRO – 29 June 2023: Egypt's Ambassador to Brussels Badr Abdel Aty met with European Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarcic to discuss the issue of migrant flow into Egypt and the commission's role in providing them with humanitarian and developmental support.

According to the statement released Thursday, Ambassador Abdel Aty underscored that Egypt hosts nine million migrants. Half of whom are from neighboring Sudan, from which, tens of thousands fled to Egypt due to the outbreak of the armed conflict in April.

The diplomat stressed that the Egyptian government had been giving them all sorts of care. Yet, more support is needed from Europe to both the migrants and host communities.

On his side, the European commissioner expressed appreciation to the efforts deployed by Egypt to host large numbers of Sudanese refugees, lauding the Ministry of Health and the Egyptian Red Crescent in particular.

The meeting tackled the outcomes of the High-Level Pledging Event to Support the Humanitarian Response in Sudan and the Region, which was organized by Egypt, European Union, United Nations, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Germany, and African Union. That is in addition to the results of the Seventh Brussels Conference on Supporting the Future of Syria and the Region. Both were held earlier in June.

Ambassador Abdel Aty pointed out that Egypt had provided Syria with 1,500 tons of aid in the aftermath of the deadly earthquake that hit the country earlier this year.

The meeting was aimed to build upon the conclusions of President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi's talks with President of the European Council Charles Michel and President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen in Paris on the sidelines of the Summit for a New Global Financing Pact; as well as, those of High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell's visit to Cairo also earlier this month.