Sudanese Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdock said on Thursday that his country does not have a hostile approach against neighboring Ethiopia, noting that Khartoum is looking for a true partnership with Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
Hamdouk said - in an interview broadcast on official television - that we have neighborly relations with Ethiopia, which have historical ties, and we do not have a hostile approach against Ethiopia, adding that we have mechanisms to address the border crisis peacefully, and to resolve all contentious issues that arise between the two countries.
Hamaddouk pointed out that the issue of encroaching on Sudan’s borders is not limited to Ethiopia, but rather all the borders that have been violated in previous years. Without further details about the other attacks or the countries that carried them out.
He continued that the Ethiopian forces had been present on the border in eastern Sudan for 25 years.
On Sunday, Ethiopia called on Sudan to conduct a joint investigation to contain the border tension between the two countries, in the wake of the summons by Khartoum, the Chargé d'Affairs of the Addis Ababa Mukken Qasai, in protest against the recent attack by an Ethiopian militia on Sudanese border lands.
And last Friday, the Sudanese army pledged to resolve the lawlessness on the border with Ethiopia, against the background of the killing of one of its officers and the injury of seven soldiers, as a result of the attacks of the Ethiopian militia.
Usually during the agricultural season and harvest periods in Sudan in the border areas with Ethiopia, penetrations and attacks by armed gangs outside the control of the Addis Ababa authorities, aiming to seize resources.
Real partnership
In other statements, Hamdock said that his country aspires to a true partnership with Saudi Arabia and the UAE, and not to a relationship in which these countries provide grants only.
He added that we are working on a strategic partnership that realizes the real interests of all parties, and we do not want to rely on loans and donations but on our natural resources.
On May 25, Muhammad Hamdan Daglo (Hamidati), Vice President of the Transitional Sovereignty Council, said that Saudi Arabia and the UAE announced, after the ouster of Bashir, the contribution of three billion dollars to support the transitional phase in the country, a grant of 2.5 billion dollars, and a deposit of five hundred million Dollars.
However, Hamidati added that some problems of a political nature (without clarifying them) led to the non-receipt of the said amount, and we only received the deposit of five hundred million dollars.
On August 21, 2019, Sudan started a transitional period of 39 months, which ends with elections, during which power is shared by the army and the Alliance for the Freedom and Change Declaration, the leader of the popular movement.