December 20, 2020 (KHARTOUM) – The Commander in Chief of the Sudanese Army Chairman of the Sovereign Council, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, briefed a meeting of the transition partners on the recent military developments in the border areas with Ethiopia.
The transition partners council held a meeting on Sunday to discuss the formation of the transitional institutions after the signing of a peace agreement with the armed groups.
In a statement released after the meeting; the Council spokeswoman Mariam al-Mahdi said that al-Burhan briefed the meeting on all developments on the eastern borders of the country.
“The council hailed the armed forces and the deployment of troops to protect Sudan, its territorial integrity and its citizens as well as preserving the sovereignty of the homeland,” she further said.
The Sudanese army recently took back border areas of Al-Fashaqa in Gadaref state that the former regime abandoned to Ethiopian farmers in the nineties after the reconciliation between al-Bashir and Zenawi who was at war against his former mate Afwerki.
Since that time, the Ethiopian Amhara militiamen continued to expand their presence in the areas. In April and June 2020, they were even backed by the Ethiopian army and clashed severe times with the Sudanese army.
Recently following the eruption of hostilities between the federal army of Ethiopia and the TPLF fighters, the Sudanese military command decided to deploy its troops along the border to prevent the expansion of the conflict to the country.
But the Amhara militiamen and their troops in the federal army ambushed a Sudanese patrol on the border killing three soldiers and their officer.
Al-Mahdi said that the meeting agreed that the Sudanese diplomacy should play its role to promote good neighbourly relations, peaceful coexistence and cooperation with Ethiopia.
Officials in Khartoum believe that the ongoing escalation from the Ethiopian side has been promoted by the officials Amhara in the government and federal army.
