State TV transmits Friday Prayers from Shalatin to signify it is Egyptian territory

CAIRO – 14 April 2017: Egyptian national TV will transmit the weekly Friday prayer services from a mosque in Shalatin, near the border between Egypt and Sudan, from the standpoint that Halayeb and Shalatin are Egyptian territory.

The initiative follows the instructions of Prime Minister Sherif Ismail, Director of the Central Department of Religious Programs at ERTU (Egyptian Radio & TV Union)

told Sada El Balad Thursday

, adding that a team has been formed to include an anchor, a producer and Sheik Yosri Azzam, who will lead the prayer.

Sudan renewed sovereignty claims over the Halayeb and Shalatin region following the signing of an agreement between Egypt and Saudi Arabia relinquishing sovereignty of two Red Sea islands to the latter.

"We will not let go of our sovereign rights to the Halayeb Triangle," Sudanese Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour told the parliament of Sudan in 2016,

according to Ahram online.

The sovereignty dispute between Egypt and Sudan dates back to 1956, when the Republic of Sudan got its independence from joint British-Egyptian rule.