October 28, 2018 (KHARTOUM) - Sudan and Eritrea would normalise bilateral relations in the near future as a result of regional efforts, according to a press report published in Khartoum on Sunday.

FILE - Sudan’s President Omer Hassan al-Bashir (R) receiving Eritrea’s President Isaias Afewerki (L) in Sudan’s capital Khartoum (Xinhua)

In January 2018, Sudan accused Eritrea of backing rebel groups unidentified opposition groups and closed the border after deploying thousands of troops. In return, Asmara last May accused Sudan, Ethiopia and Qatar of supporting armed opposition groups to overthrow the government of President Isaias Afewerki.

However, the Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed reconciled with Eritrea last July and sought to bridge the gaps between the two neighbouring countries as he did with Eritrea and Somalia.

Al-Meghar newspaper reported on Sunday that President Omer al-Bashir would meet his Eritrean counterpart Afewerki after a visit by the Presidential Assistant Faisal Hassan Ibrahim to Asmara in the upcoming days without further details.

The report said the normalisation of relations come after regional efforts to end the tensions between the two countries.

Also, the newspaper mentioned internal efforts by Sudanese political parties that have good relations with President Afewerki without naming these political forces. But it disclosed that Presidential Assistant Musa Mohamed Ahmed who is also the leader of the Beja Congress is currently in Asmara to discuss the normalization of bilateral relations and he would return next Tuesday.

Musa who was the leader of the rebel East Front signed a peace agreement with the Sudanese government brokered by the Eritrean government in October 2006 and remained close to Eritrean president.

Last September the IGAD Council of Minister said it would discuss the normalization of relations between Djibouti and Eritrea; and between Eritrea and Sudan. However, nothing was announced after the meeting of 12 September about this matter.

(ST)