Sudan’s Kiir to visit Eritrea in a bid to normalize ties
Nov 30, 2005 (KHARTOUM) — First Vice President Lt. Gen. Salva Kiir Mayardit leaves Thursday for Asmara on an official visit to Eritrea, to normalize bilateral relations, during which he will hold talks with the Eritrean President, Isaias Afeworki.
State Minister at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Al-Samani Al-Wasila Al-Samani, said in a statement to SUNA the visit of Salav Kiir to Asmara comes as part of the efforts to end tensions that occurred in the relations of the two countries.
An Eritrean delegation led by the chairman of organizational affairs in the ruling People’s Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ), Abdallah Jabir, Abdellah Jabir, visited Sudan for more than a week after years of strained ties dogged by rows and mutual accusations.
The Sudanese first Vice President wants also to mark the determination of national unity government to improve bilateral relations.
The Minister added that the visit would tackle the Sudanese-Eritrean bilateral relations and issues of common concern.
In this regard, the Minister explained that the meeting of the Sudanese-Eritrean Ministerial committee would be held in the coming week in Asmara.
Eritrea and Sudan agreed in October to set up a joint committee, which will be chaired by their respective foreign ministers and would convene to eliminate obstacles, discuss issues of common interests and work to strengthen and boost cooperation at all levels.
A senior Eritrean official said the warming of Eritrea-Sudan relations after a decade of active hostility is merely a reflection of new realities on the ground after the end of Sudan’s long-running north-south civil war this year.
“The normalisation of our ties with Sudan is because several obstacles have been solved,” said Abdalla Jaber, a senior official in Eritrea’s ruling party, the (PFDJ).
The late First Vice President John Garang was a very close friend to the Eritrean President and he promised after the signing of the peace deal with the ruling National Congress to repair ties between the two countries once he is in Khartoum.
(ST)