Egypt tightens border controls after cholera outbreak in Sudan

Health Ministry increases surveillance and preventive measures at airports and seaports

Patients suffering from cholera receive treatment at a rural isolation centre in Wad Al Hilu in Kassala, eastern Sudan. AFP

Egypt has tightened regulations at seaports and airports in the south in response to a cholera outbreak in Sudan and the spread of mpox in some African countries, Health Ministry spokesman Hossam Abdel Ghaffar said.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) last week reported thousands of cholera infections and at least 78 deaths in Sudan this year, and separately declared a global public health emergency over a deadly and highly transmissible strain of mpox in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and neighbouring countries.

Mr Abdel Ghaffar said Egypt’s Health Ministry had taken numerous preventive measures at land crossings from Sudan since civil war broke out in its southern neighbour last year and noted that Egypt had not recorded a case of cholera since 2006.

The WHO’s global cholera study published on Thursday reported 78 cholera-related deaths and more than 2,400 infections in Sudan between January 1 and July 28.

Haitham Mohamed Ibrahim, Sudan's Health Minister, has said at least 22 people have died from cholera, with 354 cases detected across the country during the autumn season.

Mr Ibrahim said the outbreak had been exacerbated by excessive rainfall. His statement came a day after WHO official Margaret Harris offered a far higher toll, saying there were 11,327 cholera cases and 316 deaths reported in Sudan – but without providing a timeframe. "We expect to have more than has been reported," she said.

Ms Harris said cases of dengue fever and meningitis were also on the rise.

A man disinfects a rural isolation centre where patients are being treated for cholera in Wad Al Hilu in Kassala, eastern Sudan. AFP

Sudan’s cholera outbreak comes amid a humanitarian crisis caused by the fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary since April last year. The Sudan Doctors' Union estimated in June that the civil war death toll had exceeded 40,000, while the number of people displaced has crossed 10 million, UN agencies said.

The fighting has caused widespread damage to healthcare facilities and left 25.6 million people – more than half the population – experiencing crisis levels of hunger.

Ceasefire talks that began in Geneva last week have been met with mixed response from the warring parties, with the RSF attending and the SAF refusing to take part.

Sudan's collective ruling body, the Transitional Sovereign Council (TSC), largely dominated by the military and headed by SAF commander-in-chief Gen Abdel Fattah Al Burhan, on Sunday announced its decision to send a delegation to Cairo to discuss a return to the Jeddah Declaration signed in May 2023, after contact with the US envoy to Sudan, Tom Perriello, and the Egyptian government.

The TSC reiterated its rejection of any new agreement with the RSF and said it would deal only with US and Saudi mediators.

The RSF claimed to have captured hundreds of fighters from Ethiopia’s Tigraya region who were in position alongside army troops in the Al Faw corridor, in the south-east of Sudan. It accused the Tigray People's Liberation Front of fighting alongside the SAF since the war began.

The RSF also accused the armed forces of launching air strikes against civilians in North Darfur and Omdurman, resulting in dozens of deaths.

The Sudanese army, meanwhile, reported successful operations against the RSF in Gezira state.