Dec 30, 2020(Nyamilepedia) — The Ethiopian Foreign ministry has warned that it might be forced to retaliate if Sudanese government does not stop expanding into what it termed as the Ethiopian territories.
Speaking during an interview, the official spokesman of the Ethiopian foreign ministry, Ambassador Dina Mufti made this statement during an interview with a local radio station.
“If Sudan does not stop expanding into Ethiopian territories, Ethiopia will be forced to launch a counter-offensive,” Ambassador Dina Mufti told Ethio FM 107.8 radio, underscoring that the silence of his government should not be taken for weakness.
The Ethiopian Foreign Ministry later said that it would prefer negotiations to settle the border issues rather than fighting which will only escalate the tensions along the border.
“We believe that securitization and unnecessary escalation will only worsen the situation and create pointless tension in the border area and disrupt daily activities of our peoples living in the border area,” he added in a long statement released by the Ethiopian foreign ministry.
In his statement, Mufti recalled recent statements by Abiy Ahmed Ethiopian Prime Minister saying that “some parties seek to create tensions between Sudan and Ethiopia,” without naming the alleged “conspirators.”
The statement closed by urging the two countries to continue with the solidarity and insisting that “the issue can be solved through dialogue.”
A Sudanese senior military official said on Tuesday that his country has no hostile intentions towards Ethiopia, emphasizing that the goal of the military operation on the eastern Sudan border is to retake control of 2.5 million acres of agricultural areas.
In Khartoum, Sudanese officials say their forces acted within the international border with Ethiopia in line with the 1902 agreement.
They point out that the current conflict is inherited from the former president who allowed Ethiopian farmers to cultivate in the border area and later ordered the evacuation of Sudanese army from the area after the war between Eritrea and Ethiopia and his reconciliation with Zenawi.
Recently the two countries held a meeting in Khartoum, where the Ethiopian Deputy Prime Minister called to withdraw Sudanese troops and compensate the Ethiopian farmers citing vandalism and looting of their products.
Sudanese delegation stressed on the need to demarcate the border first after the two countries can reach joint cooperation agreement on the border area and discuss the presence of Ethiopian farmers inside the Sudanese territory.
