Ethiopia’s Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed arrived in Khartoum on Thursday January 26, 2023 for talks with Sudan’s leaders.
The ruling military-led Sovereign Council released a photo of the Ethiopian leader and Sudan’s military ruler General Abdel Fattah Al Burhan embracing at Khartoum’s Nile-side Republican Palace at the start of their talks.
The council did not say what the two men intended to discuss, but the Ethiopian leader’s schedule of appointments suggest that he might be seeking to enable talks between the ruling generals and civilian politicians to reach a settlement of Sudan’s long-running political crisis.
Sudan’s fragile democratic transition was derailed when General Al Burhan seized power in a coup he led in October 2021, plunging the country into an economic and political crises.
The generals and a major pro-democracy coalition — the Forces for Freedom and Change — reached a preliminary deal on resolving Sudan’s political crisis last month, but they left several key issues unresolved pending further talks, which began earlier this month.
The December deal provided for the military to quit politics and for a civilian prime minister to lead the country for 24 months until elections are held.
Mr Abiy is scheduled to meet leaders of the Forces for Freedom and Change as well as other political stakeholders during his visit to Khartoum, according to officials.
It was Mr Abiy that led an African Union mediation in 2019 that produced a military-civilian administration in August 2019, four months after longtime dictator Omar Al Bashir was overthrown. That transitional administration was toppled by General Al Burhan in his 2021 coup.
