Date: Mon, 20 Oct 2014 15:57:40 +0200
Egypt and Sudan to coordinate on Libya unrest
Announcement comes at end of two-day visit by Sudanese president to Cairo
Posted by : <http://www.aawsat.net/author/theaawsat> Asharq Al-Awsat
on : Monday, 20 Oct, 2014
Cairo, AP-Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi said Sunday his country
will work with Sudan to support Libya's military against Islamic militants
in a bid to restore stability to the two countries' war-torn neighbor.
Sisi's remarks came at the end of a two-day visit by Sudan's President Omar
Al-Bashir.
The chaos in Libya is a top foreign policy concern for Egypt, which has seen
cross-border attacks by Islamic militants. Libya's new government has
accused Sudan of arming "terrorist groups" in Libya, a charge Khartoum
denies.
Sisi said Sudan and Egypt agreed to coordinate efforts to achieve stability
in Libya through supporting state institutions, primarily the military.
Bashir said his country "sees eye to eye" with Egypt on bilateral and
regional issues. The two leaders said they want to move past recent strains
in relations over divergent views over shared water resources and borders.
A dam constructed by Ethiopia threatens to reduce Egypt's share of the Nile,
challenging a colonial-era agreement that has given most of the water to
Egypt and Sudan. Sudan is not against the dam, while Egypt has been lobbying
to reduce the impact of the project on its share of the river.
Egypt and Sudan have a border dispute that also dates back to colonial
times. Ahead of his visit, Bashir raised the issue of the "Halayeb Triangle"
along the Egypt-Sudan border with reporters, saying his country won't go to
war over it but seeks to resolve the dispute.
"I assert now, after this second meeting with my brother president Sisi,
there is a strong political will for the bilateral relations to move
forward," Bashir said Sunday.
This is his first visit to Egypt since Sisi came to office in June,
following the ouster of Islamist President Mohamed Mursi in July 2013 amid
popular protests demanding his resignation. Mursi was an ally of Bashir and
his Islamist party.
Al-Bashir has an international arrest warrant against him for war crimes in
Sudan's restive western Darfur region.
<http://www.aawsat.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/1413730020199454200.jpg>
Sudan's President Omar Al-Bashir (L) and Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah
El-Sisi (R) shake hands during a statement to the press at the end of
Bashir's two-day visit, in Cairo, Egypt, on October 19, 2014. (AP
Photo/MENA)
Sudan's President Omar Al-Bashir (L) and Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah
El-Sisi (R) shake hands during a statement to the press at the end of
Bashir's two-day visit, in Cairo, Egypt, on October 19, 2014. (AP
Photo/MENA)
(image/jpeg attachment: image001.jpg)