FM follows up updates of Egyptian fishing boat held in Sudan

CAIRO – 12 February 2018: The Foreign Ministry cooperates with the Egyptian Consulate General in Port Sudan to follow up on the updates of the Egyptian fishing boat that has been held in Port Sudan since January 29, according to Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Ahmed Abu Zeid.

The Egyptian fishing boat was detained in North Sudan after it had trespassed an area of natural reserves while returning from Sudan to Egypt.

Abu Zeid remarked that the crew was referred tothe prosecution in Port Sudan, which formed a committee to inspect the fishing boat and check its documents. The committee confirmed that the boat fulfills all the requirements of marine safety, fishing license, the kind as well as the amount of authorized fish and the necessary security requirements.
Consequently, the prosecution dropped all charges against the boat except for entering the natural reserves area.

Abu Zeid stressed that the Consulate General is coordinating with the fishing boat’s owner, navigation agent and the crew’s lawyer to be provided with updates on the trial’s legal measures until the crew members are released and return back to Egypt.

The Egyptian Consulate in Port Sudan stressed that the Egyptian authorities provide the fishermen with all their needs of food and medicine since they were detained.
In April 2015, 101 Egyptian fishermen and their three boats were held in Sudan. They were put on trial for trespassing in Sudanese territorial waters.

In August 2015, the fishermen were released and returned to Egypt. This came within the framework of a prisoner-exchange deal between Cairo and Khartoum.Shortly after the release of the Egyptian fishermen, 44 Sudanese prisoners, who had been detained for crossing the border illegally, were released.

Moreover, several fishing boats were detained before in Tunisia, Libya, Yemen and Saudi Arabia. They were released after the Foreign Ministry intervened.