The official Facebook page of the Freedom and Justice Party, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, has posted an apology for its publishing of a map of Egypt without Halayeb and Shalateen, areas which are claimed by both Egypt and neighboring Sudan.
The page had posted the map defining Egypt’s borders with Sudan, and showed the areas of Halayeb and Shalateen contained within Sudanese borders. The caption of the map alluded to economic projects that Egypt and Sudan agreed upon during the visit of President Mohamed Morsy to Sudan.
The page said that an administrator had posted the map by mistake after retrieving it from an internet search.
In a statement, the party stressed its “appreciation for our people in the triangle of Halayeb and Shalateen, shown in the regular visits of the current and former Shura Council members of the Freedom and Justice Party, to communicate with the residents of the area to find out their problems and seek to solve them, the latest of which was the fire that erupted a few days ago.”
The statement referred to a fire that broke out in Shalateen City’s international market on 18 March.
The party also said it considering building an FJP branch office in the area to serve local citizens.
The statements come after Al Jazeera published on its website reports that Mosa Mohamed Ahmed, an assistant to Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, had said that Morsy had promised to give the disputed areas back to Sudan.
Ihab Fahmy, a spokesperson for the Egyptian presidency, countered by saying that “Halayeb and Shalateen are Egyptian, and President Morsy did not promise, during his visit to Sudan, to return the triangle of Halayeb and Shalateen to Khartoum as it was before 1995.”
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
