The Sudanese Defense Minister, Yassin Ibrahim , announced, on Tuesday, the readiness of the army forces to secure his country’s eastern borders with Ethiopia, following Khartoum’s announcement to confront a new incursion attempt by Ethiopian forces in the “Al Fushqa” area.
This came during a report submitted by Yassin to a meeting of the Council of Ministers on “Ethiopian movements in the eastern borders of Sudan,” according to the official Sudanese News Agency.
The Minister of Defense assured the council, “The readiness of all our forces, which are open on our eastern borders, to perform their national duties,” according to the agency.
And she stated that “the report of the Minister of Defense included the efforts of the armed forces to secure the eastern borders after the Ethiopian moves that they monitored last Friday.”
She stated that “the Sudanese army confronted these Ethiopian forces, which prompted them to withdraw towards the border area of Brecht.”
And on Sunday, the Sudanese army announced that it had responded to a new attempt at an incursion of Ethiopian forces in the “Al-Fashqa” area in the east of the country, forcing them to retreat.
For months, the Sudanese-Ethiopian border has been experiencing tensions, as Khartoum announced on December 31 last year that the army had taken control of the entire territory of his country in “Al Fushqa”.
While Addis Ababa accuses the Sudanese army of seizing 9 camps inside Ethiopian territory, since last November, which Khartoum denies.
Sudan demands the establishment of border markers based on an agreement signed by Ethiopia and Britain (on behalf of Sudan), on May 15, 1902, while Addis Ababa calls for new negotiations.
