CAIRO: Ethiopian Premier Abiy Ahmed on Tuesday met Sudan’s army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, becoming the first foreign leader to visit him in Port Sudan since the beginning of the conflict between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Earlier Abiy, hosted the RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo in Addis Ababa in December, while attempting to bring stability to Sudan after nearly 15 months of conflict.
The war between the Sudanese military factions has displaced almost 10 million people and created famine-like conditions in many parts of the African country.
Though the RSF has captured most of the capital Khartoum and the centre and west of Sudan, the army controls eastern and northern regions, including Port Sudan.
A source close to the development said Abiy had a better opportunity to achieve a breakthrough by being on the ground. “The very existence of the Sudan is at stake and when the world turned away, the PM has turned facing the Sudan,” the source said.
The visit came after an RSF attack on the southeastern state of Sennar last month brought the war closer to Ethiopia. There have been signs the RSF is moving ahead into Gedaref state, which hosts more than 600,000 displaced Sudanese and tens of thousands of Ethiopian refugees.
Last month, Sudanese farmers in the state said that Ethiopian Fano militiamen had entered the disputed Fashaga territory between the two states. Abiy in a speech on Monday said that he would not take advantage of the war to settle the issue and that his government would not side with any of the groups.
