It began with Eritrea. The Ministry of Information accused Ethiopia and Sudan of agreeing to extend support to "Eritrean armed opposition groups." [See below]
Now Ethiopia has responded, with a denial. Meles Alem, Spokesperson for Ethiopia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs described the accusation as "baseless." [See below]
This is not the first time such accusations have been traded. We will have to wait to see whether they signify anything.
Statement from Eritrea Ministry of Information
In the past two weeks during the visit of the new Prime Minister of the Federal Republic of Ethiopia to the Sudan, both governments have reportedly agreed “to extend support to what they termed as Eritrea’s armed opposition groups in order to enable them to properly execute their objectives”.
To this end, both governments “have agreed to provide these groups with material support inside their respective borders as well as to extend to them requisite facilities for enhancing their free and unhindered, cross-border, movements in the two countries”.
To ensure the effective coordination of these operations, the Ethiopian side has appointed the Consul in its Embassy in Khartoum, a certain Mr. Burhan, who has also been acting as the principal supervisor of the operations of Qatari funded Jihadist groups. The Sudan has similarly appointed General Hamid Al-Mustafa, as a counterpart for the Ethiopian appointee, for the coordination task.
This scheme, launched at a time of intense and pretentious PR campaigns, is in essence, neither new nor surprising. We hardly need to emphasize its futility.
Ministry of Information
14 May 2018
Asmara
Story from Xhinua
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Ethiopia denies accusations by Eritrea of supporting rebel movement
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| Source: Xinhua 2018-05-20 18:38:32 |
The Eritrea Ministry of Information (MoI) issued a press statement on Wednesday accusing neighboring nations, Sudan and Ethiopia, of conspiring to support Eritrean rebel groups.
The statement from Eritrea further said Ethiopia and Sudan have agreed to deploy Eritrean armed opposition groups along the two countries' borders with Eritrea to facilitate hit and run attacks on the Red Sea nation.
Speaking exclusively to Xinhua, Meles Alem, Spokesperson of Ethiopia Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), said the allegations by Eritrea that Ethiopia is working together with Sudan to support Eritrean rebel movements are totally false.
He further said Ethiopia's offer to have unconditional negotiation and dialogue with Eritrea still stands despite the two countries' current bitter standoff.
Eritrea and its southern neighbor Ethiopia fought a blood border war from 1998 to 2000, which killed an estimated 70,000 people.
Since then, the two countries have been engaged in a state of armed standoff along their common border punctuated occasionally by sporadic small-scale clashes.
Eritrea has tense relationship with its eastern neighbor Sudan, with both countries accusing each other of supporting rival rebel groups.
