Ethiopia Says Sudanese Forces Continue Looting, Displacing Farmers

Ethiopia still committed to “amicable” solution to the border issue as Sudanese forces continue looting 

Dina Mufti, Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ of Ethiopia during press conference this week (Photo : MFAE)

Borkena

January 26, 2021 

Ethiopia on Tuesday reaffirmed commitment for a peaceful resolution of the border dispute with Sudan. 

In his weekly press briefing, spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia, Dina Mufti, said that Ethiopia still believes in a peaceful solution to the border problem.

But Ethiopia’s position did come with a precondition. 

“Before the commencement of any negotiation, we demand the Sudanese army to evacuate the area that it has occupied currently by displacing Ethiopian farmers as of November 6 2020, and respect its agreement to keep the status quo,” he said.

The spokesperson accused Sudanese leaders of beating war drums. The situation in the areas occupied by the Sudanese forces within the Ethiopian territories are getting worse.

Ambassador Dina Mufti said that Sudanese forces continued looting and displacing Ethiopian farmers. 

Ethiopia tend to think that Sudan is pushing itself for a proxy war.

Sudan has not responded to Ethiopia’s position regarding the precondition for negotiation, which Ethiopia wants to be rather a bilateral one, at this writing. 

Sudan has recently been sending conflicting messages about the land which Ethiopia said is occupied by Sudanese Forces after Ethiopian troops were withdrawn from the area for a law enforcement campaign in the Tigray region of Ethiopia. 

The leader of President of the Transitional Sovereignty Council and General Commander of the Armed Forces, Abdul-Fattah Al-Burhan, first said his forces occupied the Ethiopian territories with invitation from Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. 

When the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia clarified the issue last week on Tuesday saying that Ethiopia invited Sudan for cooperation on border control not to allow criminals leave the country, Abdul-Fattah Al-Burhan came up with a different narrative which sounded a bit belligerent for politicized Ethiopians. 

He said his troops are deployed within Sudanese territory, and SUNA cited him as saying “Sudan stance that it does not want to go to war with Ethiopia or with any of the neighboring countries, but it will not abandon an inch of its territory.” 

SUNA, Sudanese state news outlet, reported on Monday that Andrew Young who is the Deputy Commander of the US Military Command in Africa arrived in Khartoum on Monday “to discuss ways of enhancing the relations between Sudan and the United States in different fields.”