Sudan’s military leader, Abdelfatá al Burhan, has stressed that Khartoum and Addis Ababa «are in agreement on all issues» concerning the dam being built by Ethiopia on the Blue Nile, a source of tension in recent years between the Ethiopian authorities and the downstream countries.
Al Burhan said during a meeting with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed during his visit to Khartoum that the two countries should «strengthen cooperation and joint coordination», after border tensions have also been recorded in recent months.
Thus, he stressed that «documents, technical mechanisms and dialogue represent the main reference» to resolve the border dispute, while he supported the peace process between Ethiopia and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) with the aim of ending the conflict that broke out in November 2020.
Abiy has further conveyed to Al Burhan that the Grand Renaissance Dam «will not cause any harm to Sudan, but will be beneficial in the field of electricity», while he has bet on «resorting to the signed documents» to resolve the border dispute.
Following the meeting, Sudan and Ethiopia have issued a joint communiqué stressing «the eternity and depth of the historical relations between the peoples of the two countries and the need to preserve and develop them».
«The two sides have emphasized the need to address bilateral issues through dialogue and understanding, including the issues of the Grand Renaissance Dam and borders, in line with existing mechanisms,» the document stresses.
In this vein, Khartoum and Addis Ababa have expressed their «commitment» to «continuous consultation and reflection on all matters relating to bilateral affairs and joint coordination on regional and international issues, the Sudanese state news agency, SUNA, has reported.
Abiy’s visit to Khartoum, the first since 2020, came two weeks after the governments of Sudan and Egypt agreed to continue their consultations on the dam, but the three countries have so far failed to reach a pact to end their tensions.
The governments of Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan reached a preliminary agreement in January 2020 on the main points of dispute over the construction of the dam and pledged to sign the final document by the end of February, although Addis Ababa walked out of the talks before signing the agreement, something only Cairo did.
Ethiopia, which is single-handedly financing the project and hopes to become the continent’s largest generator and exporter of electricity, rejects these accusations. Work is being carried out in the Benishangul-Gumaz region and, when completed, the dam will be the largest on the continent.
On the border, Ethiopia and Sudan have been involved in several clashes in recent months, while Addis Ababa has even accused the neighboring country of supporting the TPLF in the context of the conflict in Tigray.
The epicenter of this fighting has been the Fashaga area, despite the fact that the two countries started work on border demarcation in December 2020 following several incidents, which revolved around the presence of Ethiopian farmers in Sudanese territories, a fact that was tacitly tolerated by former Sudanese President Omar Hassan al Bashir.
The Sudanese authorities that emerged from the agreement following the coup d’état that overthrew al Bashir in April 2019 maintain a different position and demand the departure of these farmers from the area, which has led to increased tensions with Ethiopia.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
