Red Sea sovereign stake: Sudan in delimitation talks with Saudi Arabia amid Egyptian concerns

The maritime border between Sudan and Saudi Arabia has remained undelimited for nearly half a century and the file has gathered pace while Sudan is at war.

The war between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces which began on April 15, 2023, has continued despite regional, international and UN efforts to end it.

The United Nations describes the resulting humanitarian crisis as the world's worst.

On September 14, 2026, Sudan de-facto leader and Army General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan chaired a meeting of a committee to handle financial and investment arrangements linked to the Supreme Council for Strategic Cooperation and Coordination between Sudan and Saudi Arabia.

The two countries' foreign ministers signed the council's founding agreement in Riyadh on August 17, according to the Sudan News Agency reporting.

The meeting named the Sea Ports Corporation to coordinate civilian and military institutions and gave the Executive Secretariat direct access to historical maps and documents on the Red Sea and Sudan's borders.

It also set up a technical committee of the National Border Commission and the navy to review maps and legal documents and draft a delimitation plan, and approved maritime surveillance centres to be developed in coordination with the Saudi ports of Jeddah and Yanbu.

The outcomes may look bilateral, but they are likely to concern Egypt, which borders Sudan to the south and shares the Red Sea with both countries.

Reasons for Egypt's Concern

A new Sudanese-Saudi map could touch three areas sensitive to Egypt: the Halayeb Triangle, maritime resources and the security of shipping bound for the Suez Canal.

Egypt and Saudi Arabia signed their own maritime border agreement in April 2016.

Sudan objected at the United Nations, arguing that seven basepoints on the Egyptian-Saudi line encroach on waters linked to Halayeb, which Khartoum claims.

Egypt rejected the claim as baseless in a December 2017 declaration to the UN, asserting sovereignty over the land north of the 22^nd parallel and the adjacent sea.

A Sudanese-Saudi line that stops at the 22^nd parallel would stay consistent with the Egyptian-Saudi border, but if Khartoum uses the talks to press its claim to Halayeb, the new map could revive the dispute.

Ethiopian newspaper, The Reporter, however, reported in August 2025 that Al-Burhan had asked the National Border Commission in May 2025 to adopt a map placing Halayeb inside Egypt.

Shipping is the second risk.

Egypt President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi said in January 2026 that his country lost about Sh1.165 trillion in direct Suez Canal revenue over two years of Red Sea disruption.

In September, Houthi forces seized Yemen's Red Sea coast and gained significant control over the Bab al-Mandab Strait, the canal's southern gateway.

New security or investment arrangements on the Sudanese coast coordinated with Jeddah and Yanbu but not with Cairo would add to Egypt's exposure on that route.

Cairo and Riyadh have nonetheless coordinated closely on Sudan: when Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met El-Sisi in Cairo on September 15, the two sides said any threat to Sudan's unity endangers the collective security of both countries.

An Earlier Postponement

So far, there is no evidence that the technical committee has begun formal delimitation talks with Saudi Arabia.

Egypt delayed similar moves last year by pressing al-Burhan, according to media reports.

In October 2025, al-Burhan asked for the final draft of the Saudi agreement to be postponed until Sudan had consulted Egypt, the reports said.

The joint Sudanese-Saudi committee had met on September 20, 2025, chaired by Al-Amin Mohammed Banqa, to discuss amendments to that draft, The Standard reported.

Historical Background of the Delimitation File

The file dates back to the 1960s, when metal-rich deposits were found on the central Red Sea seabed, including the Atlantis II Deep between Jeddah and Port Sudan, one of the largest known seabed deposits of zinc, copper, silver and gold.

Talks began in Jeddah in July 1973.

An agreement signed in Khartoum in May 1974 and registered with the United Nations gives each state exclusive rights near its coast and sets up a common zone in the deep central Red Sea for joint exploitation.

The two countries announced a joint effort to revive the agreement in 2019. A 2011 study by the Kiel Institute for the World Economy estimated the present value of possible gross revenue from the Atlantis II Deep at Sh401.4 billion to Sh1.06 trillion, depending on the minerals considered.

The 1974 agreement predates the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and some legal experts believe it should be reviewed to protect Sudan's interests.