Bashir, Desalegn discuss regional security and water cooperation
October 30, 2015 (KHARTOUM) – Sudanese president Omer Hassan al-Bashir has met with the Ethiopian Prime Minister, Hailemariam Desalegn, on the sidelines of the third India-Africa summit in New Delhi.
Farmers from two sides of the border used to dispute the ownership of land in the Al-Fashaga area located in the south-eastern part of Sudan’s eastern state of Gedaref.
The two governments have agreed in the past to redraw the borders, and to promote joint projects between people from both sides for the benefit of local population.
However, borders demarcation after had stopped following the death of Ethiopia’s former prime minister, Meles Zenawi.
Following the meeting which took place on Friday in the premises of the Sudanese embassy in New Delhi, the two leaders expressed identical views on the security issues in the region.
The Ethiopian premier told Sudan’s official news agency SUNA that he discussed with Bashir the bilateral relations and the security situation in the neighboring countries besides the trade and economic cooperation between the two countries.
He added they also discussed the water cooperation and the implementation of the agreement signed between Sudan, Ethiopia and Egypt on the on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).
Egypt fears the dam will negatively affect its traditional share of water from the Nile, its only source of water which has been determined by a colonial-era water-sharing treaty.
But Ethiopia insists that this will not occur and asserts that the project is indispensable to its own national development and the economic welfare of its burgeoning population.
Meanwhile, Bashir also met with the Sudanese community in India following Friday prayer.
Also, the chairman of the International Sikh Council, Mukhtar Singh Assal, has presented the Sudanese president with a gift of a chair that symbolizes health, wellness and longevity.
MEETING WITH ZUMA
Also, Bashir on met on Thursday his South African counterpart Jacob Zuma on the sidelines of the third India-Africa summit in New Delhi.
Sudan’s foreign minister Ibrahim Ghandour said the two presidents discussed ways for promoting bilateral relations between Khartoum and Johannesburg besides the current African issues.
He pointed the two leaders also discussed the agenda of the India-Africa summit, saying that president Zuma stressed during the meeting that he will visit Sudan soon.
Last June, Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC), was forced to flee South Africa where he attended an African Union (AU) summit after a court ruled he should be banned from leaving pending the outcome of a hearing on his possible arrest.