Egypt, Sudan to set up joint patrols on border

Sudan and Egypt have agreed to set up joint military patrols along their borders, Sudan’s chief of staff, Kamal Abdul Maarouf, announced yesterday.

“It was agreed to establish joint military patrols between the two countries’ [Egypt and Sudan] borders, as well as establishing mechanisms to control them,” Abdul Maarouf said in a meeting with his Egyptian counterpart, Mohamed Zaki.

He added that the two countries were planning to “establish future joint forces on the border to combat terrorism, cross-border crimes, control the two countries’ border and combat all manifestations of evasion.”

The joint agreement came as the two countries face cross-border threats from militias operating in Libya.

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The two ministers also discussed forming a “strategic partnership” between the two African countries in the fields of “intelligence, security cooperation, and military training.”

Zaki arrived at the Sudanese capital of Khartoum on Saturday on a two-day visit, where he met with the country’s president Hassan Al-Bashir and some government officials.

Relations between Egypt and Sudan have been strained over the dispute on Ethiopia’s Grand Renaissance Dam, which Egypt sees as a threat to its annual Nile River water supply. Sudan and Ethiopia back the dam’s construction, claiming that it would generate electricity and help the African countries to eradicate poverty and promote development.

The two countries have also long been in a standoff over the disputed “Halayeb Triangle,” – 20,580-kilometre area on the Red Sea currently controlled by Egypt – which they both claim sovereignty over. In January, Sudan renewed a complaint to the United Nations (UN), calling on Egypt to hand over the disputed area.

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