Addis Ababa, 24 November, 2015 (WIC) – Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn said that redrawing the borders between Sudan and Ethiopia will begin next month according to a previous agreement with Sudan’s President Omer al-Bashir.
In November 2014, Desalegn and Bashir instructed their foreign ministers to set up a date for resuming borders demarcation after it had stopped following the death of Ethiopia’s former Prime Minister, Meles Zenawi.
Sudan’s state minister for foreign affairs Kamal al-Din Ismail told the official news agency (SUNA) that Desalegn told 2nd vice-president Hassabo Mohamed Abdel-Rahman on Monday that the demarcation will be resumed next month.
According to Ismail, Abdel-Rahman, who is currently visiting Addis Ababa, discussed with Desalegn the border and economic issues between the two countries.
He added that the meeting underlined the outcome and recommendations of the recent meeting of the Joint Sudanese- Ethiopian Higher Committee (JSEHC), stressing importance for cooperation in the various domains.
The Sudanese minister further pointed that Abdel-Rahman visited Bole Lemi industrial zone in Addis Ababa and learned about the various industrial products.
Farmers from two sides of the border between Sudan and Ethiopia used to dispute the ownership of land in the Al-Fashaga area located in the south-eastern part of Sudan’s eastern state of Gedaref.
Al-Fashaga covers an area of about 250 square kilometers and it has about 600.000 acres of fertile lands. Also there are river systems flowing across the area including Atbara, Setait and Baslam rivers.
Sudan’s Gadarif and Blue Nile states border Ethiopia’s Amhara region. The borders between Sudan and Ethiopia were drawn by the British and Italian colonisers in 1908.
The two governments have agreed in the past to redraw the borders, and to promote joint projects between people from both sides for the benefit of local population.
However, the Ethiopian opposition accuses the ruling party of abandoning Ethiopian territory to Sudan (Sudan tribune).