Sudan says border dispute with Egypt to be resolved cordially

October 22, 2015 (KHARTOUM) – A senior official at the Sudanese Foreign Ministry said that President Omer Hassan al-Bashir and his Egyptian counterpart Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi agreed to resolve the dispute over the border triangle of Halayeb “cordially” in the wake of renewed debate on the status of the area.

The Undersecretary at the ministry Abdul-Ghani Naeem told reporters on Thursday that the issue of Halayeb “has no exceptions” in his comments on conducting parliamentary elections there by the Egyptian government.

He stressed that Khartoum’s firm policy is addressing problems with Egypt amicably.

The region was listed among constituencies in Egypt’s current elections and earlier this week its residents, for the first time, voted for their own representative in Egypt’s parliament.

This week Bashir revealed that he requested Saudi mediation on the border dispute with Egypt and that Riyadh also played a role in securing the release of jailed Sudanese miners in Egypt.

He stressed that Saudi Arabia is qualified to play this role because of its clout, history and distinct status, underscoring that Sudan has never thought to abandon its historic rights in Halayeb.

The Halayeb triangle overlooks the Red Sea and has been a contentious issue between Egypt and Sudan since 1958, shortly after Sudan gained independence from British-Egyptian rule.

The area has been under Cairo’s full military control since the mid-1990’s following a Sudanese backed attempt on former Egyptian president Mohamed Hosni Mubarak’s life. Egypt brushed aside Sudan’s repeated calls for referring the dispute to international arbitration.

(ST)