Sudan and Eritrea agreed on Monday to resume their diplomatic
relations which were severed in 1995, a senior Sudanese official
announced.
Sudanese Presidential Advisor Mustafa Osman Ismail made the
announcement at a press conference following meetings involving
visiting Eritrean President Assias Afworeki with Sudanese President
Omer al-Bashir, Vice President Silva Kiir Mayardit and other
government officials.
Ismail said that the two parties had stressed their commitment
to making the relations between the two neighboring countries a
model of unity between peoples with different cultures but common
interests.
He said that the talks between the two parties affirmed their
keenness to consolidate their bilateral relations in political,
economic and other fields, adding that Eritrea's new ambassador to
Sudan had arrived in Khartoum recently and his government would
nominate its ambassador to Eritrea very soon.
"The conflicts, either internal ones or those between the
regional states, constitute the biggest threat to the security and
stability of the region," the Sudanese official said.
He added that foreign intervention in the conflicts had
negatively affected the situation in the Horn of Africa, and called
on all the countries in that region to unite in adopting plans for
the development of that region.
Ismail said that the relations between Sudan and Eritrea would
be based on open dialogue and discussion to settle any pending
issues and to move towards a new level of cooperation.
Meanwhile, he announced that the Sudanese government and rebels
in eastern Sudan would start peace negotiations in the Eritrean
capital Asmara on Tuesday evening.
Ismail, who is also the head of the government delegation to the
peace talks with the rebel Eastern Front, said that the Eritrean
government would play the role of mediator in the peace talks.
The Eritrean president arrived in Khartoum on Monday for his
first official visit to Sudan in more than five years.
(Xinhua News Agency June 13, 2006)
