BY SOLOMON DIBABA
Once more, the recent exchange of visits by the Ethiopian and Sudanese leadership to further strengthen their relationship by resolving some problems related to conflicts in the border areas of the countries have attracted conspiracy theorists and fake news magnets across the world.
Throughout the last 50 years, Ethiopia pursued a foreign policy objective that was based on the major principles and provisions of international law. Except for the spell of 17 years in which the Derge pursued gun boat diplomacy with some of the neighboring countries, almost all pervious leaders of this country pursued a foreign policy of peace and peaceful coexistence with these countries. Despite the occasional diplomatic zigzags that both countries had to sustain, Ethiopia and Sudan had maintained relatively closer diplomatic relations.
In a similar contribution I have made earlier on the relationship between the two countries, I have indicated that the late Emperor Haile Selassie has brokered a peace accord between the Agnagna Movement of South Sudan and the Republic of Sudan in 1972. Similarly Ethiopia played a key role in the negotiations for a peaceful settlement of 30 years of war between SPLM and the Sudanese government which ended in the formation of the Republic of South Sudan.
With escalation of a nationwide crisis triggered by rise in the price of bread in Sudan two years back, Prime Minister Abiy was the only and the first African leader to take action in helping to restore peace in Sudan which again ended up in the formation of a transition government composed of civilians and the military to rule the country for a period of three years. With the establishment of the Republic of South Sudan, The Republic of Sudan lost a huge amount of oil revenue making the country vulnerable to economic crisis and heavy influence from Egypt and a number of other countries who wanted to expand their sphere of influence on the country.
Some think that the recent border conflict between Sudanese forces and Ethiopian militia was just a mere border conflict that has previously occurred between the two countries. The timing of the conflict could be explained from three perspectives. First it coincided with the war waged on Ethiopia by the TPLF which planned to open a third war front on the western part of Ethiopia with the intention of regionalizing the war with the involvement of Sudan through the blessings from Egypt. Second, the Egyptian government miscalculated that Ethiopia’s campaign to ascertain the rule of law in Tigray will trigger a total civil war in Ethiopia preventing the nation from completing its mega projects like GERD.
Third, Despite the fact that this was Ethiopia’s internal affair, Egyptian and renown media outlets across the world opened a full fledge misinformation campaign on Ethiopia in support of TPLF under the guise of concerns for children and their mothers in Tigray concealing the real facts on the ground regarding the massacre in Mai Kadra, Humera and elsewhere in Ethiopia conducted by TPLF and its mercenaries represented by OLF- Shene. TPLF deliberately orchestrated an influx of refugees to Sudan with the intension of infiltrating the refugee population to recruit fighters who would be armed and join TPLF’s so called Special Forces.
However, the leaders of Ethiopia and Sudan reversed the entire conspiracy by continuing to negotiate through their joint Border Commission and Joint Ministerial Commission that is working on not only to spell out a lasting solution for conflicts in the border areas between the two countries but also to push forward on the joint economic development programs.
This is not a period in which Sudan was under the Anglo-Egyptian Condominium taking orders from a colonial power elsewhere through Egyptian influence. A weaker government in Sudan will certainly become susceptible to heavy influence from all forces and governments which are vying to put the Horn of Africa under their influence thus affecting independent negotiations for mutual development between Ethiopia and Sudan.
Ethiopia has a solid unswerving diplomatic and foreign policy objective that considers peace and security on the Horn of Africa as a major precondition for peace in Sudan and Ethiopia as well as other East African countries. Egyptian media are accusing Ethiopia of hydro hegemony while in fact they are disseminating false information on the Horn to push a wedge between Ethiopia and Sudan sowing a political discord favorable for Egyptian conspiracy theory and political and economic hegemony at the expense of civil war in the region.
With only a year left before the period for the transition government comes to an end in Sudan and with a nationwide election expected this year in Sudan, the two countries cannot afford to lose sight of the impending catastrophe that can crop up endangering the sovereignty of both countries. They need to work for mutual peace and development as urgently as possible.
The Ethiopian herald January 14/2021
