Eritrean president to visit Sudan Monday
June 11, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — President of Eritrea, Issias Afeworki, is due to arrive here in Khartoum Monday in a short visit to the country in which he will hold talks with the President Omer al-Bashir, on the bilateral relations.
The Spokesperson of the Sudanese Foreign Ministry, Jamal Mohamed Ibrahim, said in a the visit of the Eritrean President is a real initiative to normalize the relations between Khartoum and Asmara in a view that Eritrea is the nearest neighbour of Sudan.
Presidential Advisor Majzoub al-Khalifa told reporters that the talks between the two presidents would deal with bilateral relations, which have witnessed desolations and sometimes tensions during the past decade.
“We welcome a normalization of relations with Eritrea and we hope that Eritrea will play an effective role in ending the crisis in eastern Sudan,” said the official, referring to the sporadic attacks by armed rebel groups on the Sudanese government and civilians.
The recent period witnessed exchanged visits by senior officials in the two countries, the last of which was the visit of Vice President, Ali Osman Mohamed Taha, to Asmara, heading a top-ranking delegation to take part in Eritrea’s Independence Day anniversary.
The two countries have recently upgraded the diplomatic representation between them to the level of ambassadors.
Al-Bashir recently received the credentials of Ambassador Issa Ahmed Issa as the new Ambassador of the Republic of Eritrea to Sudan. In a similar step, Sudan is due to nominate its Ambassador to Eritrea in the coming period.
Sudanese Foreign Minister Lam Akol announced last Wednesday that Sudan would nominate an ambassador to Eritrea very soon, adding that the relations between the two countries had over passed the period of estrangement and were developing toward normalization.
This normalization between the two countries is directly linked to the political development in the Sudan. The former Sudanese opposition National Democratic Alliance and the Sudan Peoples’ Liberation Movement which is one of the NDA forces made the normalization with Asmara as undeclared clause in their political deal with the ruling National Congress.
Asmara in the past hosted the NDA members.
(ST)