Sudan’s Salva Kiir makes new visit to Eritrea

Feb 23, 2006 (ASMARA) — Sudan’s Vice President Salva Kiir arrived in Eritrea Thursday for his second visit to the neighbouring Horn of Africa country in three months, an official said.

Eritrean Information Minister Ali Abdou said that he would have talks with President Issaias Afeworki on regional and bilateral matters in the Eritrean port city of Massawa.

The entry of former southern Sudanese rebels backed by Asmara, including Kiir, into the Khartoum government following a peace deal last July eased a decade of difficult relations between Eritrea and Sudan.

But other Sudanese rebel movements operating in the western Darfur region and eastern Sudan have offices in Asmara.

A call by the eastern rebels to have Eritrea represented at peace talks in Libya was rejected by Khartoum, causing the negotiations to be postponed earlier this month.

Asmara also said it did not wish to attend the talks.

Sudanese minister of state for foreign affairs, Al-Samani al-Wasilah, on 7 February said in a press statement that Security is the most important issue in the bilateral talks with Eritrea.

(ST/AFP)