Sudan’s FM in Egypt for bilateral talks

May 29, 2018 (KHARTOUM) – The newly appointed Sudanese Foreign Minister Al-Dirdiri Mohamed Ahmed on Tuesday has arrived in Cairo to hold bilateral talks with his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shukry.

Sudan’s Ambassador to Egypt Abdel-Mahmoud Abdel-Halim said the two ministers would discuss ways to promote bilateral relations between the two countries.

He added they would also discuss the work of the committees approved by the leaders of Sudan and Egypt to resolve the outstanding issues.

Abdel-Halim pointed out that the two sides would discuss regional issues particularly the situation in Libya, Yemen and Syria besides promoting coordination between the two countries in the regional and international forums.

According to the Ambassador, the meeting of the top diplomats would fix the date for convening meetings of the quadripartite committee between the two countries in Khartoum.

Following a meeting held on the sidelines of the African Union summit in Addis Ababa in January, President Omer al-Bashir and his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi discussed the tensions between the two courtiers and agreed to form a quadripartite committee to develop a roadmap to restore the relationship to the right track.

The quadripartite committee including the foreign ministers and heads of intelligence from both countries met last February in Cairo and agreed on a number of technical measures to diffuse the tensions.

The tumultuous relations between Sudan and Egypt experienced last December a new crisis over media attacks against al-Bashir after a visit of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Sudan. Also, Sudan accused Egypt and Eritrea of supporting rebel groups to attack Kassala state on the eastern border.

But the main differences remain the dispute over the border triangle area of Halayeb and the construction of Ethiopian Grand Renaissance Dam that Sudan backs.

(ST)