Egypt Roundup: Facilitate supplies to Gaza, rocket injuries, Russia ties

Deadly road crash

At least 32 people have died on a highway linking two cities, Cairo and Alexandria in Egypt, after a passenger bus crashed into a parked vehicle on Saturday, October 28, 2023, Africanews reports. The collision resulted in a multi-car pile-up with other vehicles slamming into the bus, catching fire in the process. In all, 29 vehicles were reportedly part of the crash which happened in Nubariya and many of these vehicles were burned.

Gerd dam negotiations

A new tripartite round of ministerial negotiations on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (Gerd) has been launched in Egypt, The East African has said. The country’s Ministry of Water and Resources and Irrigation in a statement said that the takeoff happened on Monday, October 23, 2023, in Cairo with participants from Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia. The move is a continuation of an ongoing negotiation process for the filling and operation of the Gerd dam after Ethiopia hinted at plans to use the dam to generate electricity.

Drone crash

A drone crash which hit two Egyptian Red Sea towns in Taba, a border town to Israel has injured some six people, the Egyptian army has said. According to Africanews, the unidentified drone crashed on the outskirts of a building adjacent to the Taba Hospital on Friday, October 27, 2023. The report further said that AlQahera News television which is close to Egyptian intelligence reported “a rocket” fired by an unidentified party as part of ongoing tensions between Israel and Palestine in Gaza.

Egypt-Russia ties

Egyptian and Russian Deputy Foreign Ministers have pledged commitment to cooperate on matters of global security within the BRICS framework, Dailynewsegypt has reported. Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia Sergey Ryabkov and Deputy Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Egypt R. Etreby, H. Fahmy, and I. Badawi held a meeting in Cairo where both sides showed a desire for strategic international stability.

Facilitate supplies to Gaza

Egypt’s President, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has met with French President, Emmanuel Macron to discuss ways to dispatch supplies to Gaza in the face of tensions with Israel, according to Africanews. Macron, during a joint press conference in Cairo, announced that his country would release a naval vessel and a loaded plane with essential medical supplies to aid Gaza’s overwhelmed hospitals.