Egypt addresses U.N. over Sudan’s allegation

CAIRO – 21 December 2017: “Egypt completely denies Sudan’s allegation on its sovereignty over Halayeb and Shalateen region or its accusation that Egypt occupies the territories,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ahmed Abou Zaid said on Thursday.

This comes as a response to, what was recently circulated in media outlets, that the Sudanese Foreign Ministry delivered a letter to the United Nations to declare its rejection over the maritime border demarcation agreement between Egypt and Saudi Arabia that was signed on April 8, 2016.

Abou Zaid added that the Egyptian Foreign Ministry would deliver a letter to the U.N. secretariat to express its rejection to Sudan’s letter and allegations, as well as to emphasize that the Halayeb and Shalateen regions are Egyptian territories that are inhabited by Egyptian people and therefore under Egyptian sovereignty.

Earlier, in the midst of a growing political crisis between Egypt and fellow Nile Basin countries, Sudanese Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour reasserted his country’s claim that the regions of Halayeb and Shalateen are Sudanese and not Egyptian.

The Halayeb and Shalateen issue was renewed after Cairo and Riyadh signed a maritime demarcation agreement earlier this year stipulating that the sovereignty over the Egyptian-administered islands of Tiran and Sanafir would be transferred to Saudi Arabia.