Sudan will not enter negotiations with Ethiopia to resolve their escalating border dispute before Addis Ababa recognises farmlands long settled by Ethiopians as Sudanese territory, Sudan’s head of state said.
Gen Abdel Fattah Al Burhan also accused Ethiopia of breaching Sudanese territory over the past two weeks by stationing forces in the border area of Baraka. "It is an unjustified escalation and an act of aggression against the country," he told members of the Sudanese armed forces in Khartoum.
He called on Ethiopia to pull back its forces.
Gen Al Burhan's comments, released by the Sudanese military’s media office late on Wednesday, signal a significant toughening of Sudan’s position on the dispute, which has led to a series of deadly clashes between the two sides after the Sudanese military moved late last year to wrest back control of some of the border enclaves settled by Ethiopians.
The two nations accuse each other of massing troops in the area and of inciting unrest in each other's territory, raising the prospect of war. Mediation attempts have yielded no tangible results.
Sudan previously called on Ethiopia to come to the negotiating table, arguing that the border was demarcated by a 1902 treaty affirmed in 1972, and that all that was needed was agreement on the location of border signs. Ethiopia said it would not negotiate until Sudan pulled back forces from the areas they took back since December, a condition rejected by Khartoum.
The border enclaves have been settled since the 1950s by members of Ethiopia’s powerful Amhara ethnic group and allied militiamen. They are widely believed to include some of the most fertile farmlands in Sudan, which allowed the settlers to stay under an informal agreement.
“There will be no negotiations with the Ethiopians without an acknowledgment first that those lands are Sudanese,” said Gen Al Burhan, also the country’s top soldier.
The border issue comes at a time when Sudan is in dispute with Ethiopia over the enormous hydroelectric dam Addis Ababa is building on the Blue Nile.
Sudan and fellow downstream nation Egypt want Ethiopia to enter a legally binding agreement on the filling and operation of the dam and on mechanisms to resolve future disputes. Without such agreement, Khartoum maintains, Sudan’s eastern region would be vulnerable to destructive flooding and the disruption of its own power-generating dams on the Blue Nile.
Egypt fears that the dam would affect its share of the Nile waters, which supply more than 90 per cent of its fresh water needs.
Ethiopia proposes guidelines, rather than a legally binding deal, to address the concerns. It said it intends to go ahead with a second and much larger filling of the dam this summer regardless of whether a deal is reached with Sudan and Egypt.
Ethiopia is home to the source of the Blue Nile, the Nile’s main tributary that contributes more than 80 per cent of the river’s water. It meets the White Nile in Khartoum before they travel together north through Egypt to the Mediterranean.
Ethiopia's foreign minister said on Wednesday that the country would not allow other nations to dictate how it uses the Blue Nile.
The river “is the natural resource of all Ethiopians. No one can deprive Ethiopia of its 86 per cent share of the Nile" waters, Demeke Mekonnen said at a seminar marking 10 years since the start of construction on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam project.
His comments drew sharp rebuke on Thursday from Egypt, which said they laid bare once again Ethiopia’s “intention and desire” to impose a fait accompli on Egypt and Sudan.
“Egypt rejects that because it represents a threat to the interests of the people of Egypt and Sudan and because of the impact of such unilateral actions on regional stability and security,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmed Hafez.
“It is regrettable that Ethiopian officials use the language of sovereignty when they speak of exploiting a transnational river,” he said.
“International rivers are jointly owned by their littoral states and should not be subject to sovereignty or attempts to monopolise them.”
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
Company name: Play:Date
Launched: March 2017 on UAE Mother’s Day
Founder: Shamim Kassibawi
Based: Dubai with operations in the UAE and US
Sector: Tech
Size: 20 employees
Stage of funding: Seed
Investors: Three founders (two silent co-founders) and one venture capital fund
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.
The tours
A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages.
The Perfect Couple
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber, Jack Reynor
Creator: Jenna Lamia
Rating: 3/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Haltia.ai%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202023%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ECo-founders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Arto%20Bendiken%20and%20Talal%20Thabet%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%2C%20UAE%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EIndustry%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20AI%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20employees%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2041%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunding%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20About%20%241.7%20million%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Self%2C%20family%20and%20friends%26nbsp%3B%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
The years Ramadan fell in May
if you go
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
What is the Supreme Petroleum Council?
The Abu Dhabi Supreme Petroleum Council was established in 1988 and is the highest governing body in Abu Dhabi’s oil and gas industry. The council formulates, oversees and executes the emirate’s petroleum-related policies. It also approves the allocation of capital spending across state-owned Adnoc’s upstream, downstream and midstream operations and functions as the company’s board of directors. The SPC’s mandate is also required for auctioning oil and gas concessions in Abu Dhabi and for awarding blocks to international oil companies. The council is chaired by Sheikh Khalifa, the President and Ruler of Abu Dhabi while Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, is the vice chairman.
The biog
Favourite hobby: taking his rescue dog, Sally, for long walks.
Favourite book: anything by Stephen King, although he said the films rarely match the quality of the books
Favourite film: The Shawshank Redemption stands out as his favourite movie, a classic King novella
Favourite music: “I have a wide and varied music taste, so it would be unfair to pick a single song from blues to rock as a favourite"
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
How it works
1) The liquid nanoclay is a mixture of water and clay that aims to convert desert land to fertile ground
2) Instead of water draining straight through the sand, it apparently helps the soil retain water
3) One application is said to last five years
4) The cost of treatment per hectare (2.4 acres) of desert varies from $7,000 to $10,000 per hectare
Major honours
ARSENAL
BARCELONA
- La Liga - 2013
- Copa del Rey - 2012
- Fifa Club World Cup - 2011
CHELSEA
- Premier League - 2015, 2017
- FA Cup - 2018
- League Cup - 2015
SPAIN
- World Cup - 2010
- European Championship - 2008, 2012
