BY HAILE DEMEKE
ADDIS ABABA – Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said boundary cases with Sudan is sought to get amicable solution through the ongoing dialogue. Addressing concerns raised by an MP at the 11th Regular Session of the House of Peoples’ Representatives, the premier said a joint ministerial commission is already established to find lasting solution to the problem.
He stated that Ethiopia and Sudan have been working and are following diplomatic path so as to address border issues. The border problem between the two countries has been there over the past 60 and 70 years and is still a source of dispute.
He added that a diplomatic course is taken as a right one to deal with the problem. It is to be recalled that the problem precipitated in 1903 when a representative of Britain (Major Gwynn) unilaterally conducted a demarcation without the authorization form the Ethiopian government.
In 1972, the two-side exchanged notes to deal with the dispute that included to proceed the re-demarcation process from Mount Dagleish southwards and to study the problem resulting from settlements and cultivation by nationals of either nation in the territory of the other with a view to finding an amicable solution, according to a statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs released on 12 Jan.2021.
It further states that both countries agreed and set up Joint Boundary Commission (JBC) and Joint Technical Boundary Committee (JTBC) to re-demarcate the boundary line between the two countries, based on the amicable solution of the Joint Special Committee, particularly for the boundary sector north of Mount Dagleish
Regarding the situation with South Sudan, he said around 20,000 pastoralists from South Sudan has entered Ethiopia with their cattle fleeing the drought occurred in the area. The government is holding talks with the South Sudanese counterpart. Anyway there is not any situation that may endanger the country’s sovereignty, according to him.
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD WEDNESDAY 29 MARCH 2023
