“Security obstacles” reason behind deteriorating Sudan, Eritrea ties

Excerpt from report by Sudanese news agency Suna website, by BBC Monitoring

Aug 23, 2005 (Khartoum) — The minister of foreign affairs, Dr Mustafa Uthman Isma’il, has described the ties between Sudan and Eritrea as unique because, according to Sudanese policies, these ties are supposed to be special neighbourly ties. However, there remained security obstacles obstructing these ties.

Isma’il held the Eritrean government responsible for the deteriorating relations, pointing out that Sudan had, on a number of occasions, told Eritrea that the borders between the two countries should be used for the exchange of interests and not for the export of weapons or the planting of land mines and explosives, or to be used as a field to train rebels from Darfur or eastern Sudan.

Dr Mustafa today told the media that Sudan’s position was that the obstacles be removed so that the relations could revert to the previous status quo.