Sudan: We will negotiate directly with Egypt or seek international arbitration over Halayeb and Shalateen

Sudan’s Foreign Minister, Ibrahim Ghandour, said Tuesday that his country will begin negotiations over the areas of Halayeb and Shalateen, explaining that the issue did not witness any development in the past period.

“The issue will likely be resolved either through direct negotiations or by resorting to international arbitration, in order not to affect the Egyptian-Sudanese relations”, Egypt’s Youm7 news site reported Ghandour as saying.

The Sudanese foreign minister said the people of both countries believe the areas belong to them and that what is common between the two peoples is history and geographic boundaries. As such, the best approach to resolving the dispute is through arbitration or negotiations.

“For us Halayeb is a national issue and we want to resolve the dispute over it through mutual agreement with our Egyptian brothers”, he added.