Sudan, Egypt FMs to meet Saturday to ease tensions

Foreign Ministers from Egypt and Sudan will hold a political consultation meeting this Saturday in Cairo in a bid to diffuse the growing diplomatic rift between the two countries, Egyptian news outlets reported.

Quoting the official spokesman, Ahmed Abu Zeid, from the Egyptian foreign ministry, Egypt Independent news service said Egypt’s Foreign Minister, Sameh Shoukry, and his Sudanese counterpart, Ibrahim Ghandour, would go ahead with a meeting at the weekend despite postponing a scheduled consultation earlier this week.

Read: Darfur and Sudan’s accusations against Egypt

The announcement follows yesterday’s decision by Sudan’s cabinet to ratify a total import ban on Egyptian agricultural and animal products. However, in a statement earlier today, the Egyptian Minister of Supply and Internal Trade, Ali Al-Meselhi, said that Sudan’s import ban would not affect the agreement for Sudan to supply 800,000 cattle to Egypt within three years.

Tensions between the two countries further intensified last week following accusations made by the Sudanese President, Omar Al-Bashir, that Cairo has been militarily supporting armed opposition groups in the western region of Darfur seeking to overthrow the government in Khartoum. Egypt’s President, Abdel-Fatah Al-Sisi, denied the allegations.