Sudanese official hails close ties with Egypt

Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir's Advisor for African Affairs Ali Hassan Tag Eddin yesterday lauded growth of his country's ties with Egypt.

Tag Eddin told reporters yesterday that Egypt's national security runs all the way to Nimoli, in the far south of Sudan, and Sudan's national security runs all the way to Alexandria, far north of Egypt.

"These good relations are eternal and reflect both countries' keenness on developing them constantly in all fields for the interest of both peoples," he said.

"These relations were crowned most recently with President al-Bashir's visit to Egypt and President Mubarak's visit to Sudan, in addition to meetings of a joint higher cooperation commission in Khartoum mid last month.

The Sudanese official made the statements during a stopover at Cairo airport coming from London.

He expected fresh growth in relations between the two states, especially with implementation of 19 bilateral cooperation pacts.

Regarding peace negotiations on southern Sudan, the Sudanese official said a new round of negotiations between the Sudanese government and rebel Sudan's People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) would begin on August 10, noting that his visit to London had dealt with the issue.