‘Dispute with Egypt on UN agenda’: Sudan official

Defence Minister Abdelrahim Mohamed Hussein said that Sudan has lodged a complaint with the United Nations every year regarding its dispute with Egypt over the disputed Halayeb Triangle, on Monday. “The case is still on the agenda at the UN”, Mohamed Hussein said in press statements as he left Sudan’s parliament after submitting a routine report on his ministry’s work. “Sudan continues to renew its complaint,” he added without elaborating. It was the first time a Sudanese official had referred to Sudanese complaints filed at the UN regarding the disputed triangle, an area of land that straddles the Egypt-Sudan border. Situated in south-eastern Egypt, the Halayeb Triangle has remained under Egyptian control since 1995. Sudan continues to insist that Halayeb constitutes an integral part of its own territory. However, following a February visit to Cairo, Mohamed Hussein ruled out the possibility that the land dispute would hinder relations between Cairo and Khartoum. “The problem will be resolved through dialogue”, the top Sudanese general had said at the time. Meanwhile, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Badr Abdel Ati said in previous statements that the triangle represented “a 100 percent Egyptian territory”. “There is no room for argument over this,” Abdel Ati had said. In 1992, Egypt raised objections when Sudan offered to allow a Canadian oil firm to explore an area next to the Halayeb Triangle, forcing the company to eventually withdraw.(Anadolu Agency) Map: The Halayeb Triangle between Egypt and Sudan (Wikipedia Commons)