Sudan, Egypt to hold military talks in Khartoum on Tuesday

August 6, 2018 (KHARTOUM) – Ministry of Defence said the 5th round of the joint Sudanese-Egyptian military talks on the level of experts would kick off on Tuesday in Khartoum.

In a statement on Sunday, the Defence Ministry said the Egyptian Army Chief-of-Staff, Lieut.Gen. Mohamed Farid would arrive in Khartoum on Monday evening to take part in the talks.

Head of the Sudanese team to the talks Lieut. Gen. Hisham Abdel-Mutalab Ahmed, pointed to the need to benefit from the accumulated experience of both armies to enhance joint cooperation and exchange of expertise.

For his part, head of the Egyptian side Maj. Gen. Khaled Labib stressed his country’s keenness to promote cooperation with Sudan on all domains.

During a visit of Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi to Khartoum last month, the two countries agreed to coordinate efforts to enhance the security of the Red Sea and promote bilateral economic and trade cooperation.

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.

However, the two countries recently developed a joint security cooperation against the opposition groups from both sides.

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

(ST)