Ethiopia, Sudan agree to boost military intelligence sharing

December 24, 2022 (KHARTOUM) – Ethiopian and Sudanese military intelligence agencies agreed to enhance cooperation and to share intelligence for the sake of peace and security in the two countries, Fana a state-affiliated media outlet reported on Saturday.

In a meeting held in Khartoum, Ethiopian Defence Intelligence Chief Major General, Demsew Amenu, and his Sudanese counterpart Mohamed Ali Ahmed discussed ways to boost cooperation and operations to ensure security and stability in the volatile East African region.

According to the Ethiopia media, the two spy agencies agreed to share information.

“It is important to work together and cooperate in the area of peace and security so that impression of tolerance and solidarity can continue in the long run,”  said Maj Gen Demsewu.

For his part, Major General Ahmed, on his part said that “the cooperation agreement will help fill gaps in the area of peace and security”.

The Sudanese army did not issue a statement about the agreement.

The deal between the military intelligence agencies come after a similar agreement between the National Intelligence and Security Services of Ethiopia (NISS) and Sudan’s General Intelligence Service (GIS) on November 20.

The threat posed by the Jihadist groups in the region and the need to end the activities in the border areas of armed groups in both countries pushed the two countries to put aside the border dispute raised by Abiy’s government.

On July 5, Sudanese and Ethiopian leaders Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Abiy Ahmed met in Nairobi on the sidelines of an IGAD summit. After the meeting, Ahmed said that they reached an agreement to peacefully settle all issues between the two neighbours without further details.

(ST)