Sudan, Egypt exchange detainees accused of crossing borders
March 2, 2018 (KHARTOUM) Sudan and Egypt on Thursday have exchanged detainees who were accused of crossing the joint borders between the two countries illegally, said Sudan’s Foreign Ministry
In a press release seen by Sudan Tribune, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Gharib Allah Khidir said the Sudanese security on Thursday handed over its Egyptian counterpart three Egyptian nationals who were detained last July in Sudan’s northern desert.
He pointed out that the three Egyptian were carrying equipment without elaborating on the nature of this equipment or the charges that led to their arrest for seven months.
According to Khidir, the Egyptian security has simultaneously handed over the Sudanese security three Sudanese nationals who were arrested last August after they went astray and entered the Egyptian territory north of the borderline 22 degrees.
He added the exchange of detainees took place at the Qustol-Ishkate border crossing between the two countries.
In August 2015, Egyptian authorities released 37 miners after being held for 5 five months on charges of cross-border infiltration. But their properties estimated at “8” million dollars are still held by the Egyptian Army.
The Sudanese miners were released after an amnesty issued by the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in response to Sudan’s decision to pardon 101 Egyptian fishermen detained by Sudanese authorities since April 2015, on charges of crossing the territorial waters.
The relation between the two countries is strained due to a number of issues including the disputed Halayeb triangle, Sudan’s support to the Ethiopian dam, and the ban of Egyptian agricultural products.
Following a meeting held on the sidelines of the African Union summit in Addis Ababa in January, al-Bashir and his counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi discussed the tensions between the two courtiers and agreed to form a quadripartite committee to develop a roadmap to restore the relationship to the right track.
The quadripartite committee including the foreign ministers and heads of intelligence from both countries met earlier this month in Cairo and agreed on a number of technical measures to diffuse the tensions.
(ST)