ADDIS ABABA — Sudan's second most powerful leader met
with Ethiopia's defense minister Saturday on a rare visit to
Addis Ababa by an
official from Khartoum, that comes amid border tensions, officials said.
اضافة اعلان
Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, widely known as Hemeti, who is number
two in Sudan's ruling council, will be in the capital for two days to meet
"several Ethiopian officials", Sudan's state news agency SUNA and
Ethiopia's Fana reported.
He was met at Addis Ababa airport by Ethiopian Defense
Minister Abraham Belay, a statement from Sudan's ruling council said. He was
also welcomed by senior officials from
Ethiopia' government and intelligence
services, it added.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed tweeted on Saturday to
express his "appreciation for the deep historical bonds that bind our two
people".
Daglo is head of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a much
feared and powerful paramilitary unit that is accused of atrocities in the
western region of Darfur.
Relations between Khartoum and Addis Ababa deteriorated due
to a territorial conflict over the disputed Al-Fashaqa border region, where
Ethiopian farmers cultivate fertile land claimed by Sudan.
There have been sporadic deadly clashes between the two
sides in recent years.
Al-Fashaqa also borders Ethiopia's troubled Tigray region,
and tens of thousands of Ethiopian refugees have crossed into Sudan fleeing
fighting.
In November, Sudan's armed forces said six soldiers were
killed in an attack by armed groups and militias linked to the Ethiopian
military, a report denied by Addis Ababa, who blamed rebels from Tigray.
Sudan, along with Egypt, is also locked in a bitter dispute
over Ethiopia's mega-dam on the Blue Nile.
The two downstream countries, dependent on the river for
most of their water, see Ethiopia's Renaissance Dam as an existential threat.
Both Khartoum and Addis Ababa are mired in crises.
Sudan has been rocked by weeks of mass demonstrations since
an October 25 military takeover that derailed the country's fragile transition
to civilian rule, with at least 73 anti-coup protesters killed in a bloody
crackdown.
Ethiopia still seeks to end a conflict that broke out in
November 2020 following months of mounting rancor between Abiy's government and
the former ruling party of the northernmost Tigray region, the
Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF).
The fighting has displaced millions, and, according to UN
estimates, driven hundreds of thousands to the brink of starvation.
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