Sudan and Ethiopia to hold talks on border crisis

Defence Redefined

Published on 22/12/2020 at 09:55

Sudan and Ethiopia will hold talks next week on recent tensions on their common border, according to a statement by Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok last Sunday.

This news comes just days after Sudanese soldiers were attacked and killed by Ethiopian troops on the common border.

Days earlier, Sudanese troops had been ambushed within Sudan in Abu Tuwair, east of Gedaref. The Sudanese army has blamed Ethiopian militias for the attack, which killed three soldiers and an officer and wounded 27 others.

The leaders of Ethiopia and Sudan met earlier on the sidelines of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) summit in Djibouti.

The office of the Sudanese Prime Minister wrote on Twitter: “The Prime Minister met his Ethiopian counterpart, Abi Ahmed, at his residence in Djibouti.”

“Bilateral relations between the two countries and the situation in the region were discussed during the meeting,” Sudan said. “The meeting revolved around the meeting of the Supreme Border Committee between the two countries scheduled for this week,” according to Reuters.

The last meeting to demarcate the border between Sudan and Ethiopia was reportedly held in May 2020 in Addis Ababa. Another meeting was scheduled for a month later, but was canceled. The rainy season has made it more difficult to demarcate the border between the two countries.

The current border demarcation agreement dates back to May 1902 between Britain and Ethiopia, but there are still gaps that cause regular accidents with Ethiopian farmers coming to work in lands that Sudan claims are within its borders. Sudan and Ethiopia share a 1,600-kilometer border.

Also read: Ethiopia | 72-hour ultimatum for Tigray forces to surrender – MAP

With information from: dailynewsegypt.com