Ethiopian Informer
ADDIS ABABA, June 1 (EI) — The Ethiopian government on Monday invited the Sudanese government to address and jointly investigate circumstances surrounding a recent armed incident that erupted across the two countries’ border areas.
The Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a statement issued on Monday regarding an armed incident that happened along the Ethiopia-Sudan border area on May 28, underscored the need to solve the misunderstanding and uncertainties mounted aftermath of the alleged armed skirmish through peaceful mechanisms.
“In the spirit of containing the situation on the ground and avoiding any further tension, the Ministry urges that the two countries should work together through existing military mechanisms to address and jointly investigate circumstances surrounding the incident,” an Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement read.
The ministry, which expressed “great dismay” regarding the incident on May 28 along the border area between the two neighboring countries, also expressed its “deep sympathy and condolences to the families of the victims of both countries.”
“The ministry strongly believes that there is no honorable reason for the two countries to descend into hostility and calls for the need to continue the close collaboration between neighboring local and regional administrations to ensure peace and security in the border area,” the statement read.
Reiterating the East African country’s stance that such incidents “are best addressed through diplomatic discussion based on the cordial and friendly relation and peaceful coexistence between the two countries,” the ministry also stressed that the incident “does not represent the strong ties between the peoples of the two countries.”
The Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs also underscored the importance of further strengthening “the cordial and friendly atmosphere that reflects the longstanding fraternal relations between the two countries based on good neighborliness and mutual understanding.”
On Saturday, the Sudanese foreign ministry alleged that the attack was “backed by the Ethiopian army” and killed a Sudanese army officer and injured a number of soldiers as well as civilians including children, according to a statement from the ministry.
The ministry, which summoned the Ethiopian charge d’affaires in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum in protest over a cross-border attack, also stressed that the “sinful” attack came “at a time when preparations were underway in Khartoum to hold the second meeting of the high-level joint committee on border issues,” the statement noted.
The accusation was said to be the first of its kind that Sudan accuses the Ethiopian army of supporting the country’s militias in attacking the Sudanese territories.
