Sudan’s Sovereign Council says President Salva Kiir of South Sudan has expressed willingness to be an intermediary between Sudan and Ethiopia to end their ongoing border conflict.
Chairman of Sudan’s Sovereign Council Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan met with Tut Gatluak, South Sudan’s presidential adviser on security affairs, who conveyed president Kiir’s message verbally, the council said in a statement.
“President Salva Kiir has expressed readiness to mediate between Sudan and Ethiopia to reach a political and diplomatic solution according to the recognised international borders in preservation of the fraternal ties between the two countries and the peace in the region,” Gatluak was quoted by the statement as saying.
Al-Burhan stressed “the friendly and fraternal solution” for the border dispute between the two countries, Gatluak added. Since September 2020, the Sudan-Ethiopia border has been witnessing rising tensions and violent clashes with accusations and counter accusations between the two sides.
Sudan’s Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday, that an Ethiopian military plane penetrated the Sudanese airspace in what it termed “a serious and unjustified escalation.”
Sudan accuses Ethiopian farmers of seizing Sudanese lands at Sudan’s Fashaga area along the border and cultivating them since 1995, claiming that the farmers were backed by armed forces.
On December 16 last year, the Sudanese army said its troops were ambushed on the Sudanese side of the border, by Ethiopian forces and militias.
Then on December 19, the Sudanese army said it had deployed strong reinforcements to the Gadaref State on the eastern border with Ethiopia. Khartoum then announced the retaking of what it terms as “the seized lands.”