Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi received Sudanese Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour Sunday and asserted the importance of continuing the historical cooperation between the countries, addressing issues that dominate the international relation between the neighbours.
Ghandor confirmed Sudan’s support to Egypt in the framework of historical and strong relations, while both agreed to increase trade cooperation. Further, they discussed the developments achieved in the negotiations with Ethiopia regarding the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).
Ghandour’s meeting with President Al-Sisi follows his Saturday joint press conference with his Egyptian counterpart, Sameh Shoukry. The press conference addressed the countries’ longstanding dispute over the territory that sits upon their shared border: the Hala’ib Triangle. Egypt has maintained sovereignty over the region since the early 1990s.
Ghandour announced that Sudan is renewing its complaint against Egypt in the UN Security Council in a bid to save its historical rights to the area. Sudan initially filed its complaint during the presidency of Gamal Abdel Nasser to save its historical rights. He stressed that the only way to solve the land dispute is by an appeal to dialogue between both countries.
Soukry declared that Egypt and Sudan are committed to reaching an agreement to serve the interest of the two peoples and to achieving economic development in the face of international and regional threats.
Egyptian-Sudanese border disputes over the Hala’ib Triangle first arose in January of 1958 when the Egyptian government sent a memo to the Sudanese government to object to a new election law issued by Sudan on 27 February 1958.
Shortly after Sudan’s independence from Britain and Egypt, Sudan planned to hold elections in the Triangle. Nasser deployed troops to the area for a short period of time to secure the area ahead of the referendum for the United Arab Republic.
Until 1992, the two countries jointly controlled the area until Egypt protested Sudan’s concession of exploration rights of the Hala’ib Triangle to a Canadian oil company.
In 2014, Cairo signed contracts with companies for gold exploration in the area. Khartoum responded by deploying a force of marines.
