CAIRO: Egyptian MPs have accused Khartoum of escalating tensions with Cairo and renewing Sudanese claims to a disputed border area known as the Hala’ib Triangle.
The accusation was made after Sudan on Thursday summoned its ambassador from neighboring Egypt for consultations.
“We respect the Sudanese people and their political leadership. However, this escalation (summoning the ambassador) is unjustified,” said Egyptian MP Mona Mounir.
Cairo is willing “to discuss and negotiate everything with neighboring Sudan, except what might affect Egypt’s historic share of the (Nile) water and its documented and recognized borders,” she added.
Sudan’s summoning of its ambassador and its claim to the Hala’ib Triangle “will never deter us from protecting every inch of our territory,” Mounir said.
Khartoum’s actions came days after Egypt’s Foreign Ministry rejected Sudan’s claim to the territory, and its allegations that it is under Egyptian “occupation.”
Spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid said the ministry will send a letter to the UN in response to Khartoum’s letter claiming that Egypt is occupying Sudanese territory. Egypt’s letter will emphasize its sovereignty over Hala’ib, he added.
In November, Sudan’s Foreign Minister Ibrahim Al-Ghandour said his country “will never give up Hala’ib.”
The head of Sudan’s Technical Committee for Border Demarcation (TCBD), Abdullah Al-Sadiq, on Thursday reiterated his country’s position regarding the territory.
He called for a peaceful resolution, but said the continued “Egyptian infringement” on Sudanese land would provoke Khartoum to engage in direct clashes and would be counterproductive for Cairo. “Hala’ib is Sudanese, and we will restore our sovereignty over it,” he added.
Egyptian MP Tariq Al-Khawly said Sudan’s summoning of its ambassador was aimed at escalating tensions, and was carried out in coordination with Qatar and Turkey. He added that the dispute would damage Egypt’s interests and affect its national security.
Egyptian MPs accuse Sudan of escalating tensions
Egyptian MPs accuse Sudan of escalating tensions
Syria Kurds chief says ‘all efforts’ being made to salvage deal with Damascus
- Abdi said the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the Kurds’ de facto army, remained committed to the deal
- The two sides were working toward “mutual understanding” on military integration and counter-terrorism
DAMASCUS: Syrian Kurdish leader Mazloum Abdi said Thursday that “all efforts” were being made to prevent the collapse of talks on an agreement with Damascus to integrate his forces into the central government.
The remarks came days after Aleppo saw deadly clashes between the two sides before their respective leaders ordered a ceasefire.
In March, Abdi signed a deal with Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa to merge the Kurds’ semi-autonomous administration into the government by year’s end, but differences have held up its implementation.
Abdi said the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the Kurds’ de facto army, remained committed to the deal, adding in a statement that the two sides were working toward “mutual understanding” on military integration and counter-terrorism, and pledging further meetings with Damascus.
Downplaying the year-end deadline, he said the deal “did not specify a time limit for its ending or for the return to military solutions.”
He added that “all efforts are being made to prevent the collapse of this process” and that he considered failure unlikely.
Abdi also repeated the SDF’s demand for decentralization, which has been rejected by Syria’s Islamist authorities, who took power after ousting longtime ruler Bashar Assad last year.
Turkiye, an important ally of Syria’s new leaders, sees the presence of Kurdish forces on its border as a security threat.
In Damascus this week, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan stressed the importance of the Kurds’ integration, having warned the week before that patience with the SDF “is running out.”
The SDF control large swathes of the country’s oil-rich north and northeast, and with the support of a US-led international coalition, were integral to the territorial defeat of the Daesh group in Syria in 2019.
Syria last month joined the anti-IS coalition and has announced operations against the jihadist group in recent days.
