Eritrean President to Arrive in Sudan on Tuesday- Sources

Sources revealed to Al-Sharq newspaper that Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki will arrive in the Sudanese Capital Khartoum on Tuesday for a one-day official visit aimed at resolving bilateral issues between the two African nations.

According to the sources, the visit of the Afwerki, comes in light of the tension witnessed between the two countries against the background of Khartoum's accusation to Asmara of siding with Ethiopia and supporting it militarily inside the Sudanese borders with Ethiopia.

They confirmed that Afewerki will lead mediation to solve the border crisis between Khartoum and Addis Ababa, adding that he will hold talks with the head of the Transitional Sovereign Council, Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, regarding the security files and bilateral issues.

Military sources told Al-Sharq that the Sudanese army had monitored military build-ups of Eritrean forces in the Hamra area inside Sudanese territory last March.

The Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs accused a third party of encroaching on Sudanese lands with the Ethiopian forces, and a foreign ministry statement said: “The Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs cannot deny that there is a third party whose forces entered the Sudanese territory with the Ethiopian aggressor forces.”

Relations between the two countries witnessed severe tension in February 2018, as Al-Bashir's government closed the common borders between the two countries, and sent large military reinforcements to the border areas, after accusing Asmara of mobilizing large forces near its borders with Sudan, harboring the opposition, and encouraging smuggling of Sudanese goods.