CAIRO
By Salah Mohamed
An Egyptian local official on Friday denied reports of the presence of Sudanese troops in the Halayeb region, a triangular piece of territory in southeastern Egypt on the Sudanese border.
"No Sudanese troops have entered the area," Wagih Ma'amoun, head of the local council of Shalateen, a town situated inside the so-called "Halayeb Triangle."
"The area is totally secured and controlled by the Egyptian army," he told Anadolu Agency.
Sudanese media reported earlier that a Sudanese army force had been deployed in the area, adding that members of the force were ready to "sacrifice their lives" for their country's territorial integrity.
Head of the Sudanese election commission in Sudan's Red Sea State, Abdel-Qadir Mohamed, asserted earlier that the state's administrative borders included Halayeb.
He said the territory had been part of the Red Sea constituency since 1953 and that its residents had been taking part in Sudanese elections ever since.
The assertions angered some local tribesmen.
"These are all lies," Sheikh Mohamed Sadw, a Halayeb resident, told AA. "Halayeb is 100-percent Egyptian territory."
Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Badr Abdel-Ati said Thursday that recent remarks about the area belonging to Sudan were intended to spark tension.
The area has been under Egyptian control since 1995. Sudan, however, says the region is part of its territory.
The 20,580-square-kilometer territory is part of Egypt, according to a border agreement endorsed in 1899, following the British occupation.
In 1992, Egypt objected to a concession granted by the Sudanese government to a Canadian company to explore oil and water in the area.
The company later decided to pull out of the area until the dispute was resolved between Egypt and Sudan.
By Salah Mohamed
www.aa.com.tr/en
