Sudan restates claim to disputed territory with Egypt
Sudan recently announced it was including the disputed Halayeb area as an electoral district for its elections in 2015, proving a setback to Egypt-Sudan relations that were gradually improving after Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s election as president.
CAIRO — Egyptian-Sudanese relations are currently witnessing a silent confusion after Khartoum approved an earlier decision to declare the disputed area of Halayeb and Shalateen, on the borders of the two countries, an electoral district for both the parliamentary and presidential elections at the beginning of 2015.
Cairo is also preparing to conduct parliamentary elections with the participation of the same electoral district at the end of this year, and considers this area to be an integral part of Egyptian territory, according to the Egyptian Foreign Ministry.
This creates further complications, especially with the increasing demands from political parties in Egypt that Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi act quickly to resolve the matter before the Sudanese elections, believing that Sudan has violated international law with its decision, which they described as anti-Egyptian.
In accordance with international law, a single area cannot be adopted as an electoral district by two countries. International law professor Ahmed Rifaat told Al-Monitor, “There are three types of borders that separate countries, according to international norms: the administrative, customs and political borders. The most important of these is the political border since it is linked to the idea of a state’s sovereignty within its territory.” Rifaat considered Sudan’s decision to include Halayeb within a Sudanese electoral district as a violation of international law, since Sudan does not have the right to supervise elections within Egyptian borders.
