Egypt, Sudan move to overcome tension after death of Sudanese migrants in Sinai

Cairo and Khartoum have been working to contain the recent tension between the two countries following reports of a Sudanese citizen who was tortured inside an Egyptian police station and the killing of five Sudanese migrants by Egyptian border guards while trying to cross from Egypt’s turbulent North Sinai region into Israel on Monday.

The Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry phoned his Sudanese counterpart Ibrahim Ghandour from Japan to stress the need to contain the situation, according to an Egyptian foreign ministry spokesman.

Ahmed Abu Zeid told Anadolu news agency yesterday that minister Shoukry spoke to Ghandour about how to avoid escalation and being dragged into attempts to disturb Egyptian-Sudanese relations.

He explained that the Sudanese nationals killed in Sinai were illegal migrants who did not comply with Egyptian orders and that the Egyptian security forces had to act in accordance with international law to secure the borders.

The Sudanese Ambassador in Cairo Abdel-Mahmoud Abdel-Halim told Anadolu that the two sides are preparing to form an Egyptian-Sudanese joint higher committee early next year in Cairo to supervise the interests of citizens in both countries.

The news agency reported Jalal Yousef Aldki, the assistant to Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir, as saying that the implementation of agreements signed between Khartoum and Cairo will contribute positively to the development of joint cooperation between the two countries at all levels.

Sudanese Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour yesterday denied on reports of his country closing its border with Egypt, pointing out that the Egyptian-Sudanese borders are secure.

As many as 39 Sudanese nationals have been recently killed or arrested in Egypt.