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U.S. President Donald Trump has disclosed that Egypt will be his first stop on an African visit. His immediate predecessor, Barack Obama also visited Egypt as his first stop on the continent.

Trump who took office on January 20 has largely operated in Washington until last Friday when he flew out on his first foreign visit to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
                               
He said on Sunday that he hoped to visit Egypt, after meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in the Saudi capital Riyadh.

“I will get to Egypt. We will be putting that on the schedule soon,” he said. He said Sisi had “done a tremendous job under trying circumstances.”

The Egyptian leader was also the first African leader to meet Trump at the White House during a visit in April this year.

The Saudi meeting was under the aegis of the Arab Islamic American Summit, 37 heads of state and at least six prime ministers were present at the two-day summit in Riyadh.
Obama’s first African trip, June 2009 – Egypt

Great to be in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Looking forward to the afternoon and evening ahead. #POTUSAbroad pic.twitter.com/JJOra0KfyR

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 20, 2017

The trip to Egypt was Obama’s 10th since he took office. He arrived in the capital, Cairo on June 4, 2009.

Obama delivered a speech at the Cairo University; titled ‘A new beginning.’ It centered on the need for improved mutual understanding and relations between the Islamic world and the West and said both should do more to confront violent extremism.
                                     
He also called for peace between Israel and Palestinians. Obama reaffirmed America’s “unbreakable” alliance with Israel, and described Palestinian statelessness as “intolerable.”

Afterwards, he held talks with the then President Hosni Mubarak and also visited the Sultan Hassan mosque before leaving the land of the Pyramids.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn has expressed worry over the refusal of nationals illegally resident in Saudi Arabia to return home despite a 90-day amnesty program.

Desalegn said he feared that the Saudi government will resort to forcibly deport Ethiopians who have refused to voluntarily return home.

The Premier is quoted by the Ethiopia News Agency as saying, “the situation that made the Saudi Government forcibly deport our citizens is being created. Therefore, it is better if our citizens come back home before various problems arise seizing the opportunity they are given even in the remaining short period”.

The 90-day amnesty expires in a few days and authorities say the numbers of people they expected to return under the program was all but underwhelming. The PM, however, renewed the appeal for them to return in their own interest.

The period for illegal foreigners to leave the oil-producing giant started on March 29, 2017. Those who fail to leave will be subjected to fines or face legal measures, which include forced deportation.

The PM further assured that nationals residing in Saudi Arabia and the government will continue to collaborate with the Ethiopian mission in Saudi Arabia and other regional governments for the safe return of citizens.

Even as the government continued to fight trafficking of persons, the PM held that illegal brokers were thwarting those efforts and destroying lives of citizens because of their profits.

Most affluent Middle East countries hire thousands of domestic helpers from Africa and Asia. Most of these helpers often complain of abuse from their employers. In a recent case in Kuwait, an Ethiopian maid was virtually thrown off from the seventh floor of an apartment block by her employer.

The maid was filmed by her employer, a Kuwaiti woman, while she hanged outside their building tightly gripping the window frame with one hand until she fell onto a metal awning seven floors below.

Local media reported that she was attempting to commit suicide despite her call for help before falling. She denied that claim in a later interview.

“I wasn’t trying to commit suicide, I was trying to escape from the woman who tried to kill me,” she said.

The employer was arrested for not helping the Ethiopian maid who was rescued by health professionals and rushed to the hospital with blood oozing from her nose and ears as well as a broken arm.