Day: December 28, 2022

The Sudanese army denied, on Tuesday, reports about the withdrawal of its forces deployed in Yemen under the Saudi-led coalition to fight the Iran-aligned Houthi group.

Quoting government and military sources, the Yemeni Third Opinion news outlet said that the Sudanese forces in Yemen since the start of the war in 2015 have actually begun to withdraw from Al-Anad heading to the port of Aden 50 km from the military base.

” Effectively Sudanese military units that were operating at the Al-Anad base withdrew two days ago towards the coastal city of Aden. But they would be replaced by a new force that will secure another site inside Yemen,” army spokesman Nabil Abdallah told Sudan Tribune.

Abdallah added that the rotational replacement of Sudanese troops is carried out in coordination between the command of the coalition and the Sudanese army which is an essential component of the coalition, as he said.

On December 8, 2019, former Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok announced that it has only 5,000 soldiers in participating the Decisive Storm operation in Yemen.

Before him in October of the same year, the Deputy Head of the Sovereign Council and Commander of the Rapid Support Forces Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, disclosed the withdrawal of 10,000 soldiers from Yemen.

A week ago on December 21, Sudanese Defence Minister Yassin Ibrahim and his Yemeni counterpart, Mohsen al-Daeri signed a military cooperation agreement.

The deal provides among others to provide the necessary support related to peace operations, crisis management, counter-terrorism operations and maritime piracy.

An UN-brokered truce in Yemen ended in October 2022, after six months. But the parties failed to renew it.

Source: Sudan Tribune

Ethiopian Airlines on Tuesday announced the resumption of flights to Mekele, the capital of the war-torn northern Tigray region, starting on Wednesday, the first commercial flights to the region in about 18 months.

The announcement comes one day after a high-level government delegation comprising half a dozen ministers and heads of public enterprises paid a visit to Mekele to discuss the implementation of last month’s peace agreement signed between the Ethiopian government and Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) leaders.

This is the first time for the central government to dispatch such a high-level delegation to the region since the conflict between Tigray regional and government forces broke out in November 2020.

Under huge international pressure, the two parties struck a Pretoria peace accord on November 2, 2022.

The agreement, which includes promises to restore halted services and unfettered humanitarian access among others, ended a two-year bloody war between the Ethiopian federal government and allies against the Tigrayan forces.

“The resumption of these flights will enable families to reunite, facilitate the restoration of commercial activities, stimulate tourist flow and bring many more opportunities which will serve the society,” Ethiopian Airlines CEO Mesfin Tasew, who was part of the delegation to Mekelle, said in a statement.

Sources in Addis Ababa told Sudan Tribune that all Mekelle-bound daily flights slated till Tuesday next week have fully been booked within hours of the announcement made today.

With planned daily flights to Mekelle, the airline said “it will increase the daily frequency depending on the demand on the route”

Ethiopian currently operates to a total of 20 domestic destinations and plans to increase this number in the coming years.

The resumption of the flights also comes as most of the region gets connected to the national power grid and telecoms services have been restored in 27 towns there, according to figures issued by government officials.

As flights to Mekele are set to resume on Wednesday, Ethiopia National Defense Forces (ENDF) will be in Mekelle before Thursday to safeguard government institutions and resume Constitutional duty.

“In the meantime, handing over of heavy weapons and resumption of the constitutional duty of ENDF (Ethiopian National Defense Force) in Mekele, in particular, is expected to be executed until Thursday,” said Ethiopian national security adviser Redwan Hussien on a Twitter post today.

Mr Redwan cited the Nairobi agreement on the implementation of the peace accord, which called for the handover of heavy weapons, together with the withdrawal of foreign and non-federal forces, without naming specific foreign forces.

Eritrean troops, who have fought alongside Ethiopian federal forces have recently been accused by TPLF officials of trying to obstruct the peace process.

Even after a peace deal was signed, the Eritrean forces who were not signatories to the peace agreement have been accused of looting towns, raping, arresting and killing civilians in the Tigray region.

The lack of Eritrean forces’ withdrawal has been an obstacle to the implementation of the peace agreement brokered by the African Union.

Yesterday, the government delegation and Tigray leaders held discussions in Mekelle on a range of pressing issues including the withdrawal of Eritrean and non-federal forces from the Tigray region.

However, details of what has been discussed or decided with regard to the exit of Eritrean forces have not yet been revealed by any of the parties but Tigray leaders said the discussions were “cordial and historical”.

“Fruitful discussions were held and important understanding has been reached,” said Getachew Reda, advisor to the President of Tigray, who also signed the peace agreement with the Ethiopian government on behalf of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).

“The government’s gesture to green-light the long overdue restoration of services is commendable”.

“That none of the government delegation members bothered to bring close protection guards is a testament to their confidence in Tigray’s commitment to the peace agreement,” Getachew said.

Debretsion Gebremichael, leader of the regional party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), called for their departure.

“We have disengaged our troops on all four fronts. But we left some in areas where (Eritrean) forces are still present,” he said in a televised address from Mekelle.

The Tigray conflict has claimed the lives of more than 500,000 people.

The peace agreement followed by the resumption of some basic services such as electricity, banking and telephone has given much relief to the region’s estimated seven million population.

Source: Sudan Tribune

South Sudan and Sudan have agreed to strengthen border crossing movement between the two countries to facilitate trade and movement of people.

If implemented, it would not only help the two sides to implement the 2012 cooperation agreement but represent key priorities for Africa as two complementary aspects of continental integration, as recognized by the African Union’s Agenda 2063 which advocates continental integration through removing barriers to trade.

The AU’s agreement establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) has focused on the importance of eliminating barriers to foster regional trade to create a single continental market for goods and services for some 1.3 billion people in 55 countries.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) in partnership with the government of South Sudan says it is working with the state authorities to help in the implementation of the vision of “Secure cross border social, economic, and commercial activities” as part of the efforts to facilitate trade and human mobility in view of fostering regional prosperity through the establishment of legally recognized and security-controlled cross Border Posts.

As a key milestone in the governance of the project, IOM in partnership with the state and local authorities seeks to support the bilateral meeting of the joint political security mechanism Committee between Sudan and the Republic of South Sudan, with the participation of representatives from the European Union, United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei, United Nations Mission in South Sudan and the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission for Sudan (UNITAMS), an integrated political and peacebuilding mission and other parties supporting security and the peace process in the two countries.

The inspector general of police in south Sudan Gen Majak Akech hailed the visit and meeting between the heads of security organs, saying the meeting was meant to provide strategic guidance and lead to a full-fledged operationalization of the cross-Border Posts to facilitate trade and movement of the people

Such a visit, he emphasized, is aimed at strengthening the economic integration and social cohesion among cross-border communities in south Sudan and Sudan, through the implementation of an Integrated Border Management (IBM) approach, facilitated by improved infrastructure, including the construction of relevant border facilities comprising cross Border Post at the Point of Entry (PoE), as well as support to the establishment of common border management mechanisms and procedures.

The executive director in the office of south Sudan’s president Salva Kiir Deng Wal Achien also explained that the meeting had discussed the bilateral agreement that will govern the cross-Border Point operationalization and provided guidance on the future common procedures. After the meeting, Joint Committee members are expected to visit the border areas, where the authorities of south Sudan and Sudan had established infrastructures.

Achien said the effort would secure cross-Border Social, Economic and Commercial activities between the two countries in fulfillment of the African Union Agenda 2063.

“The Government of South Sudan encourages this initiative to build border posts. Once operational, this infrastructure will allow the implementation of a bilateral approach to integrated management and will make trade operations more fluid,” explained Achien.

The presidential aide said well-managed borders would, through increased trade and strengthened bonds, bring prosperity to countries, populations and the entire regions.

“The initiative would also promote seamless trade and human mobility between South Sudan and Sudan has enormous potential for the development of the region,” stressed Achien.

He added, “This initiative will consolidate the socio-economic relationships of border communities in the areas on the one hand and enhance bilateral cooperation between the two countries within the framework of the 2012 Cooperation Agreement.

The 2012 Cooperation Agreement identified eight cross-border points as critical geographical locations at which border crossing points could be set up due to their importance as a trade and transport corridor and the daily movement of the cross-border communities, who cross the border between south Sudan and Sudan in search of employment, business opportunities, and health care.

Source: Sudan Tribune