Sudan’s Bashir to meet with Egyptian & Kenyan counterparts: FM
December 21, 2015 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese government said it was finalizing arrangements for a meeting between presidents Omer Hassan al-Bashir and his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and unveiled a planned visit by Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta in the coming months.
The two countries witnessed strained relations after complaints from Sudanese nationals in Egypt alleging mistreatment and torture by Egyptian authorities.
Also around 37 Sudanese miners who were released by Cairo last August are still awaiting the return of their seized property including cars, satellite phones, generators and gold detectors.
Ghandour told reporters after the conclusion of the joint ministerial meetings between Sudan and Kenya in Khartoum today that no date has been set for the Bashir-Sisi summit.
On Monday afternoon, the work of the Sudanese-Kenya ministerial committee chaired by Ghandour and foreign minister Amina Mohamed was concluded and the latter met with president Bashir who called for strengthening relations between the two countries.
Ghandour described the meetings as successful and fruitful and said that the two countries agreed to confront the International Criminal Court (ICC) in accordance with the decisions of the African Union summit in Johannesburg last June.
He also spoke of a the existing committee on this matter that will file a report with the AU next month.
Ghandour noted that this committee consisted of 13 foreign minister which held four meetings on the sidelines of meetings of the General Assembly of the United Nations, Addis Ababa, New Delhi and finally in The Hague in the presence of ICC state parties.
The Kenyan President had appeared at the ICC in November 2014 before his case was dropped while the court has outstanding arrest warrants for Bashir on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity as well as genocide allegedly committed in Darfur.
Kenya has as recently as last month threatened to rally the African continent for en masse withdrawal from the Hague-tribunal.
The two ministers also pledged to continue their obligations to the peace processes in the region particularly in South Sudan and Somalia within the framework of IGAD.
They expressed satisfaction at the excellent relations between the two countries and stressed the commitment to strengthen cooperation for the mutual benefit of their peoples and the importance of cooperation in international and regional forums in order to coordinate the promotion of peace, security and sustainable development.
The joint committee signed agreements on trade, avoidance of double taxation, protection and promotion of investments, mining, petroleum, environment, education, science and technology, documents, tourism, youth and sports areas.
The two sides agreed to hold the next Ministerial Committee in Nairobi to be scheduled at a later time of next year.
The Kenyan top diplomat commended Sudan’s efforts in maintaining regional peace and security, and praised the national dialogue process and expressed her country’s support to it along with international challenges that affect Sudan such as sanctions.
(ST)