Sudan’s efforts to break a deal between Eritrea and Djiboutis

Sudan Tribune, France

May 11, 2010

(KHARTOUM) — Sudan will launch a mediation to end the border row between Djibouti and Eritrea and defuse the current tension between the two Horn of Africa nations, the state minister for foreign affairs stated today.

Ali Ahmed Karti, Sudan’s state minister for foreign affairs met Tuesday with the visiting Eritrean foreign minister. The two parties discussed bilateral relations and ways to boost cooperation between the neighboring countries.

Karti told the official SUNA the Eritrea and Djibouti accepted a Sudanese initiative to mediate between the two countries. He further said that Khartoum would proceed to arbitrate after the swearing-in ceremony of the Sudanese president Omer Al-Bashir and the formation of a new government.

He also stressed that the Eritrean side showed readiness to negotiate with Djibouti to resolve problems between the two countries

Dispute between Djibouti and Eritrea began in June 2008 when Eritrean soldiers penetrated in the neighboring small territory opening fire on Eritrean deserters.

Despite international condemnation Eritrea refused to withdraw its troops and took the control of Rass Doumeira, a small border village.

A UN fact-finding mission, which was rejected by Eritrea, reported that the dispute had the potential to destabilize the entire region.

International and regional bodies condemned the attack and urged Eritrea to pull out of Djibouti. Eritrea also Eritrea also had refused in the past by mediation to between the two countries.

Posted by farajat on May 13 2010 Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry