CAIRO — Sudanese Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour and his visiting Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry agreed to work together April 20 to control the ongoing exchange of hostility in the news media caused by the mounting political tensions between the two neighbors.

Despite the important outcomes of the April 20 meeting, which included the drafting and signing of a media charter of honor and a commitment to continuing consultations on arising political issues between the two countries, the animosity continues. On April 25, the Sudanese Journalists Union called on the government to expel all representatives of the Egyptian media hours after Egyptian authorities deported a second Sudanese journalist at the Cairo airport.

Shoukry's visit to Khartoum aimed to de-escalate existing and renewed disputes between the two countries regarding ownership of the Halayeb triangle and Sudan's support of Ethiopia’s construction of the Renaissance Dam, which Cairo opposes. The two sides exchange accusations of supporting opposition groups in each other's countries. The meeting focused on the implementation of the Four Freedoms Agreement signed by the two countries in September 2004. The visit came following Sudan's April 7 decision to require Egyptian men ages 18 to 50 to obtain visas for travel to Sudan. In September 2016, Sudan banned imports of fruit, vegetables and fish from Egypt.

Recently, the Sudanese-Egyptian media war spread to the Meroe pyramids in Begrawiya in northern Sudan. On March 13, the mother of the emir of Qatar, Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser, visited the pyramids. In the wake of her trip, Egyptian news outlets slammed Qatari coverage promoting the Sudanese pyramids while ignoring the Egyptian ones.