Talks on “deteriorating relationship” with Sudan

Eritrean Defence Minister Sebhat Ephrem has refuted accusations that his country had helped Sudanese rebels plan an attack, according to the Sudanese state news agency SUNA. Talks between Sebhat and his Sudanese counterpart, Bakri Hassan Salih, in Khartoum on Wednesday “included the reasons for the deterioration in relations between the two countries”, Reuters news agency reported. The talks had been held in a “frank and clear atmosphere”, SUNA stated. It quoted Sebhat as dismissing claims that there had been a build-up of Eritrean troops on the eastern Sudanese border.

“It is simply not true,” Sebhat said, adding that he had visited Khartoum after Salih had visited the Eritrean capital Asmara on 20 July to discuss similar border issues with Eritrean President Isayas Afewerki. The Sudanese state-owned newspaper ‘al-Anbaa’ reported last month that an Eritrean military build-up on the eastern Sudan border was aimed at helping a planned rebel attack on Kassala. In the report, Eritrea was accused of giving assistance because it believed Sudan had facilitated Ethiopia in the latest round of the Ethiopia-Eritrea two year-border war.