Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry met on Monday the families of the 101 detained fishermen in Sudan, state news agency MENA reported.

Shoukry spoke to the families who staged protests last Thursday to demand the authorities press for the fishermen’s release.  

Shoukry said: "Egyptian authorities are following the situation closely with the Sudanese authorities in order to ensure their release."

Egyptian foreign ministry spokesman Badr Abdel-Aty told MENA that the foreign ministry was working in collaboration with the minister of insurance and social affairs in order to distribute urgent aid for family members of the detained fishermen. 

On Thursday, the fishermen were expected to be released. However, on Friday Egypt's foreign ministry stated that the Sudanese authorities had backtracked on their decision a day earlier to release the fishermen who were detained for a territorial breach.

The 101 Egyptian fishermen, who were bound for Eritrea aboard three boats, were arrested on 7 April and detained in the coastal city of Port Sudan.

Sudanese media reported that the authorities had demanded that Egypt release 24 Sudanese miners believed to be held in Egyptian prisons in exchange for the release of the Egyptian nationals.

It is not the first time in recent years that Khartoum has arrested Egyptian fishermen for encroaching on Sudanese waters.