Sudan - Government
	President Numeri was one of very few Arab leaders to support President Sadat of Egypt´s initiative for peace with Israel in 1978. Sudan's close relations with Egypt were consolidated in 1982, when a "charter of integration" was signed. The first session of the joint "Nile Valley Parliament", created by the charter, was convened in 1983 with 60 Sudanese and 60 Egyptian members. Egypt has expressed concern at the perceived growth of Islamic "fundamentalism", and has accused Sudan of attempting to support Islamic revolution and to destabilize the region. Sudan and Egypt are also involved in a dispute over the Halaib border area, and in early 1992 relations deteriorated sharply following the announcement that Sudan had awarded a Canadian company a concession to explore for oil there. In May 1994 Sudan accused Egypt of establishing military posts on Sudanese territory, and at the end of the month the Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that Sudan wished to refer its dispute with Egypt to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, the Netherlands, for arbitration. In January 1995 Egypt rejected a request by Sudan to refer the dispute over the Halaib border area to a meeting of the OAU´s council of Ministers of Foreign affairs in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. On 26 June relations suffered a further, serious setback after the attempted assassination of President Mubarak of Egypt on his arrival in Addis Ababa to attend the annual conference of the OAU there. The Egyptian Government immediately accused Sudan of complicity in the attack, and the OAU made the same allegation in September. There was evidence of increasing economic and military links between Sudan and Iran in 1991. Some 2,000 Iranian Revolutionary Guards were allegedly dispatched to Sudan to assist with the training of the Sudanese army, and in December President Rafsanjani of Iran made an official visit to Sudan, during which a trade agreement between the two countries was concluded. In November 1993 Iran was reported to have financed Sudan´s purchase of some 20 Chinese ground-attack aircraft. In April 1996 the Government was reported to be granting the Iranian navy the use of marine facilities in exchange for financial assistance for the purchase of arms although, in response to a Sudanese request for military aid in 1997, Iran provided assistance only with military maintenance. The USA has been one of the severest critics of the present Sudanese Government, and has frequently expressed concern about Sudan´s links with Iran. Allegations of Sudanese involvement in terrorism resulted in the detention in the USA, in 1993, of five Sudanese residents suspected of plotting to blow up buildings and road tunnels in New York, and to assassinate President Mubarak of Egypt on a visit to the USA; the USA subsequently added Sudan to its list of countries accused of sponsoring terrorism. In 1994, Madeleine Albright, then the US ambassador to the UN, visited Khartoum, and warned President al-Bashir that Sudan faced further international isolation unless it took immediate steps to improve its human rights record. She also accused the Government of blocking food relief shipments to southern Sudan, and indicated that Sudan would remain on the US list of state sponsors of terrorism. The release by the Sudanese to the French authorities, in August, of the Venezuelan-born terrorist, Illich Ramirez Sanchez ("Carlos"), was regarded by many observers as an attempt by the Government to improve its international standing. In early August 1997 the USA imposed severe economic sanctions against Sudan, owing to that country´s alleged continued support for terrorism.