Sudan closes border with Ethiopia after 10-day reopening

 

    Metema, in Ethiopia's north-west, was once a people smuggler's paradise.

Sudan Tribun reports that 10 days after resuming cross-border movement of persons and commodities, Sudan shuttered the Metema crossing point with Ethiopia.

 

The military-controlled Sovereign Council voted on January 10 to allow Ethiopian gas tankers to enter the border, citing the Sudanese ministry of energy and petroleum as the reason for the humanitarian decision.

 

According to border security sources, the Sudanese army Commander-in-Chief, who is also the Head of the Sovereign Council, made the decision to block the Metema Galabat crossing. So yet, no formal notification from the Eastern Military Command has been required to reopen it.

 

"We've been told to only let gas trucks to pass the border, no other cargo," the officials said on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the press.

 

Sudan closed the border in July 2021 after an Ethiopian militiaman murdered a Sudanese military commander who had been kidnapped at the crossing point.

 

Sudanese officials urge that the kidnappers in Ethiopia be apprehended and brought to justice.

 

However, after a meeting of security officials from both nations last week, border trade between the two countries was restored before being suspended again on military orders.

 

According to Osman Ahmed, Deputy Secretary-General of the Border Traders Committee, rade between the two nations was restored for roughly ten days thanks to popular diplomacy efforts.

 

According to Ahmed, the government earns seven million pounds a day through border commerce as tons of coffee, Ethiopian coffee, honey, and other goods cross the border.

 

He stated that the monthly profit from the transaction is between $150 and $200 million dollars, pointing out that more than 150 tons of oil pass into Ethiopia from Sudan every month.

 

According to several accounts, corruption undermined the border restriction, with a big number of trucks and other items crossing the border for a substantial quantity of money.

 

After the Fashaga border conflict erupted in late 2020, when the Sudanese army cleansed the border area of Ethiopian farmers and militias, relations between the two nations were tense.