Africa-Press-Ethiopia
JUBA (AGENCIES) – The leaders of Sudan and Ethiopia will separately travel to the South Sudanese capital Juba next week to kick off a mediation bid by the South Sudanese government to defuse a border dispute.
Senior presidential aide Tut Gatluak, who has been shuttling between Khartoum and Addis Ababa in recent weeks for talks with their leaders on the border quarrel, announced the visits on Wednesday.
When in Juba, Sudan’s de facto head of state Gen Abdel Fatah Al Burhan and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed will meet with South Sudanese President Salva Kiir.
Depending on the outcome of these talks, a three-way summit could be held later in Juba, Mr Gatluak said.
Also on Wednesday, a spokesman for the Sudanese Foreign Ministry said the country’s ambassador to Addis Ababa had been summoned for “consultations,” Reuters reported
It was not immediately clear if it was linked to the border dispute.
A Saudi government envoy, Minister of State for African Affairs Ahmed Qatan, was meanwhile in Khartoum on Wednesday to try to defuse tension between Sudan and Ethiopia.
He held talks with Sudanese leaders, including Gen Al Burhan and Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok. He was scheduled to visit Addis Ababa later this week.
The Sudanese-Ethiopian border dispute began when the Sudanese military moved in December to wrest back control of enclaves on its side of the border that had for decades been settled by farmers from the powerful Amhara ethnic group.
