Ethiopia and Sudan agree to resolve border and Nile dam tensions peacefully

The governments of Ethiopia and Sudan have agreed to resolve their border tensions diplomatically and over the huge dam built by Addis Ababa on the Blue Nile River, which has led to tensions with Khartoum and Cairo over Nile water quotas.

The head of the Sudanese army and president of the Sovereign Transitional Council, Abdelfatá al Burhan, received Ethiopia’s deputy prime minister and foreign minister, Demeke Mekonnen, to discuss bilateral relations, which have been damaged in recent years.

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According to reports carried by the Sudanese state news agency SUNA, the two agreed to improve economic cooperation and stressed that disputes should be resolved “through joint mechanisms between the two countries”.

The Ethiopian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Meles Alem, also stressed that during the meeting the ceasefire agreement between Addis Ababa and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) was discussed, while revealing that Khartoum has promised to work to facilitate its implementation.

Ethiopia and Sudan have been engaged in several border clashes in recent months and Addis Ababa has even accused the neighboring country of backing the TPLF in the context of the conflict that broke out in November 2020 in the Tigray region (north).

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.

Tensions were reinforced by differences over the Grand Renaissance Dam, with Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt failing to reach an agreement, which has led to major differences between Addis Ababa and Cairo.

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