KHARTOUM – The president of Eritrea, one of the world’s poorest nations, arrives in neighbouring Sudan Thursday for talks with President Omar al-Bashir and to visit key economic sites, state-linked media said.

Issaias Afeworki, who visited eastern Sudan late last year, will stop for three days in the Khartoum area, the Sudanese Media Centre (SMC) reported on Wednesday.

The Eritrean leader will visit a number of economic institutions as well as gold and petroleum refineries, it added.

A policy of fierce self-reliance has stifled Eritrea’s economic growth. Its gross national income of $430 is one of the lowest globally, according to the World Bank.

The UN says Eritrea has one of the worst human rights records in the world.

Thousands of Eritreans flee their country every year, passing through Sudan in hopes of reaching a better life in Israel or Europe.

The visit by Issaias comes a week after Sudan announced that its military, along with Libyan forces, rescued hundreds of illegal migrants abandoned by smugglers in the scorching desert between Sudan and Libya.

Sudan’s foreign ministry said one Eritrean was among 10 migrants who died.

Most of the survivors appeared to be Eritrean or Ethiopian, according to a journalist.

Sudan tries to maintain a balanced relationship between its eastern neighbours Ethiopia and Ethiopia’s rival Eritrea.

Middle East Online