Sudan and Ethiopia are ready to peacefully resolve the ongoing border crisis caused by clashes over arable land by border communities, reported The East African.
The leaders of the two countries agreed on bilateral efforts to resolve the border issue during the sidelines of the 38th extraordinary Summit of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (Igad).
The clashes have been taking place are in Al-Fashaqa, on the border of Ethiopia and Sudan. Tension in the region has increased after the outbreak of conflict in Ethiopia’s Tigray region last month. There has been an influx of more than 50,000 Tigrayan refugees in eastern Sudan due to the violence.
Disputes are mainly related to agricultural land in Al-Fashqa, which falls within Sudan’s international boundaries but has long been settled by Ethiopian farmers. In the last few weeks, there have been armed clashes between Sudanese and Ethiopian forces, with both sides accusing the other of instigating the violence. The representatives from the two countries held talks in Khartoum over the issue this week.
Sudanese Prime Ministers Abdallah Hamdok and his Ethiopian counterpart Abiy Ahmed met in Djibouti last week as tensions escalated along their common border.
Faisal Mohamed Saleh, the Sudanese minister for Information and government spokesman said that a joint committee will soon begin discussions in Khartoum to resolve the issue.
“In the meeting with PM Abiy Ahmed, the situation between the two countries was discussed especially relating to the borders and they reached an agreement that the committee on borders is formed as soon as possible,” Saleh said.
On Tuesday, Dina Mufti, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, assured that the Ethiopian government is committed to increasing its efforts to resolve the border problem with Sudan in a peaceful manner.
He said it is a priority to resolve the differences as soon as possible for the stability and security of the people of both the countries.
Mufti said Ethiopia has no interest in causing a conflict with the neighboring country.
