The office of Sudanese Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok announced today, Sunday, that the joint committee on the borders between his country and Ethiopia will return to work next Tuesday, amid a military build-up and tension on the borders that led to the killing of Sudanese soldiers.

 This came after a meeting between Hamdok and his Ethiopian counterpart, Abi Ahmed, as the meeting touched on the holding of the Supreme Boundary Commission between the two countries on December 22nd.

The two sides met on the sidelines of the East African Development Organization (IGAD) summit, held today in Djibouti, which brings together 7 countries from the east of the continent.

 The last meeting of the Border Demarcation Committee was held in May 2020 in Addis Ababa.

A new meeting was scheduled to take place a month later, but was canceled.

The rainy season made it more difficult to establish border points between the two countries in this region.

 The border demarcation agreement dates back to May 1902 between Britain and Ethiopia, but there are still gaps in some points, which regularly cause accidents with Ethiopian farmers who come to work in lands that Sudan asserts that they are within its borders.

Military reinforcements


The official Sudanese News Agency (SUNA) said yesterday that Sudan sent "large military reinforcements" to the border, days after an "ambush" by the Ethiopian army and militias against Sudanese soldiers.

SUNA added that the Sudanese Armed Forces "continued to advance on the front lines inside the front line to restore usurped lands and to station on international lines in accordance with the agreements of the year 1902. The armed forces sent large military reinforcements to the areas."

Last Thursday, the head of the Transitional Sovereignty Council, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, visited the border area for 3 days, after 4 soldiers were killed, including an officer, and 27 were wounded, following an ambush on an army force, according to Sudanese media.

 And the armed forces announced on Wednesday that a force affiliated with it was ambushed Tuesday inside the country’s territory in the Abu Tuwair region, east of the state of Gedaref, accusing the "Ethiopian forces and militias" of carrying it out.

"There are a number of movements from the Sudanese army in the border areas bordering the Ethiopian border in the state of Gedaref, including the areas of Jabal Abu Tayur, the greater and the lesser," the Armed Forces spokesman confirmed.

The armed forces have received reports of a ceasefire between them and the Ethiopian militias, according to the same spokesman, who said, "We need hours to locate the areas liberated by the Sudanese army."

Historical Relations


For its part, Addis Baba played down the importance of the ambush that the Sudanese soldiers were exposed to, and Abiy Ahmed Al-Khamis confirmed the strength of the "historical" relations between the two countries.

A spokesman for the Ethiopian Foreign Ministry said that the security forces in his country "repelled an attack carried out by soldiers and farmers on its territory."

 This tension coincided with a major humanitarian crisis in the state of Gedaref after receiving 50 thousand Ethiopian refugees who fled the war in the Tigray region.