Sudan accepts 'in principle' UAE's offer to mediate in conflicts with Ethiopia
Khartoum, Sudan (PANA) - Sudan says it has accepted "in principle" an initiative of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to mediate in the conflict with Ethiopia in the border issues as well as the construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).
The state-owned Sudan News Agency (SUNA) reported that the Council of Ministers, chaired by Prime Minister Dr. Abdalla Hamdouk, was on Tuesday briefed on the mediation initiatives on the two issues.
"The ministers discussed the report of the Technical Committee to deal with the UAE Initiative for mediation between Sudan and Ethiopia on the border and the Dam issues.
"The Council affirmed the report of the committee and welcomed, in principle, the UAE Initiative in the context of maintaining the country’s higher national interests," SUNA reported.
Tension between Ethiopia and Sudan have heightened of late with a war of words between senior members of the two governments although they have repeated that they will not go to war.
“Sudan has its own problems, so does Ethiopia. Faced with these difficulties, both need not go to war. It’s therefore better to solve the border conflict through dialogue,” Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said on Tuesday in Parliament.
The President of Sudan's Transitional Sovereignty Council, Lt. Gen. Abdul-Fattah Al-Burhan, has also said his country does not want to go to war with Ethiopia.
Sudan deployed troops to its eastern border with Ethiopia on 20 December, weeks after hostilities between the Tigray regional administration and the Ethiopian military began on 4 November.
The Sudanese forces' deployment followed an ambush along the border region blamed on the Ethiopian side.
The Ethiopian authorities say renegade Tigray forces were responsible for the hostilities with the aim of getting Sudan involved in the conflict in the Tigray region.
The Sudanese Civil Aviation Authority has banned flights over the Al-Fashaga border area, east of the city of Gadarif, on the border with Ethiopia.
It said that the ban would be from 14 January until 11 April.
Sudan had accused an Ethiopian military plane of violating its airspace and border with the Sudan Ministry of Foreign Affairs describing the incident as a "dangerous escalation that could have severe consequences and would result in more tension at the border area".
The two countries also have serious differences over the construction of the dam by Ethiopia on the Blue Nile.
Ethiopia said "a third party" was behind the tension with Sudan with the intent to disrupt the negotiations on the dam.
Ethiopia has asked Sudan to "shun the pressure it has been facing to go into a proxy war".
Tensions among Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt, over the dam began to rise after Ethiopia announced last year that it had started filling the reservoir.
Sudan and Egypt want the United Nations, US, European Union and African Union to mediate in the dam conflict while Ethiopia wants the three countries directly involved in the dam issue to agree on the way forward under the supervision of the African Union.
Ethiopia says it will continue filling the dam for the second successive year with 13.5 billion cubic meters of water regardless of whether or not an agreement is reached.
Sudan and Egypt are against Ethiopia's construction of the dam without "serious and effective negotiations" as the project directly affects them.
Ethiopia has said the dam is essential for its development, while Egypt and Sudan worry about access to vital water supplies from the Nile.
-0- PANA MA 24March2021
