Sudan asks Egypt to hold talks over disputed Halayeb area

Khartoum: Sudan’s state-run news agency says the Sudanese government plans to seek international arbitration unless Egypt agrees to enter negotiations over the disputed Halayeb Triangle on the border between the two countries on the Red Sea coast.

The news agency said the foreign ministry issued a statement saying that as far back as 1958 Sudan had submitted a complaint to the UN Security Council claiming sovereignty over Halayeb, in a dispute which dates back to British colonial times.

Sudan is requesting that Egypt follow the same procedures used in resolving a territorial dispute with Saudi Arabia. Several months of secret talks culminated in Egypt handing over two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia on April 9.

Thousands of people protested in Cairo and other cities on Friday against Egyptian President Abdul Fattah Al Sissi’s decision to give up the islands.