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Sudan Deploys Troops on Border with Ethiopia

FILE PHOTO: Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed addresses the legislators on the current situation of the country inside the Parliament Buildings in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia February 3, 2020. REUTERS/Tiksa Negeri/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed addresses the legislators on the current situation of the country inside the Parliament Buildings in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia February 3, 2020. REUTERS/Tiksa Negeri/File Photo
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Sudan Deploys Troops on Border with Ethiopia

FILE PHOTO: Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed addresses the legislators on the current situation of the country inside the Parliament Buildings in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia February 3, 2020. REUTERS/Tiksa Negeri/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed addresses the legislators on the current situation of the country inside the Parliament Buildings in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia February 3, 2020. REUTERS/Tiksa Negeri/File Photo

Sudan has deployed troops on the border with Ethiopia to stop the infiltration of armed elements to its territories.

Member of Sudan’s Sovereign Council Mohamed Alfaki Suleiman said on Tuesday that the government has taken all the necessary arrangements to deal with a flow of Ethiopian refugees.

He pointed out that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has visited eastern Sudan, inspected the old refugee camps and prepared for opening new camps if necessary.

This comes in light of the armed conflict in Ethiopia between the Federal government and Tigray region’s forces that resulted in the escape of dozens of Ethiopians across the border to Sudan.

Gedu Andargachew, the Ethiopian National Security Affairs Advisor to the Prime Minister, arrived in Khartoum on Tuesday and met with President of Sudan’s Transitional Sovereign Council Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Premier Abdalla Hamdok.

According to the Council’s statement, Burhan stressed the Sudanese government and people’s support for Ethiopia in facing the current crisis.

Hamdok referred to the ongoing contacts with Ethiopian PM Abiy Ahmed as part of Khartoum’s keenness on the neighboring country’s security and stability.

He received a letter from his Ethiopian counterpart on the latest developments in Tigray region and expressed confidence in Addis Ababa’s ability to overcome the crisis.

Andargachew briefed the Sudanese officials on the developments in Tigray, affirming the Ethiopian government’s ability to address the situation as soon as possible.

Eyewitnesses told Asharq Al-Awsat that hundreds of Ethiopians have fled Tigray to Sudan’s Kassalam and Gedaref bordering states.

Sudan’s Security and Defense Council discussed the developments in Ethiopia on Monday and called on all parties to seek a peaceful solution to the conflict.

Last weekend, the Ethiopian army announced an offensive on the northern region following an attack by Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) on a federal military base in the area.

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Arab World

Al-Qusayr: Freed from the Nightmare of the Syrian Regime and Hezbollah

Destruction in Al-Qusayr (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Destruction in Al-Qusayr (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Al-Qusayr: Freed from the Nightmare of the Syrian Regime and Hezbollah

Destruction in Al-Qusayr (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Destruction in Al-Qusayr (Asharq Al-Awsat)

At the Shanshar crossroads on the Homs-Damascus highway, there once stood one of the largest checkpoints operated jointly by the former Syrian regime’s forces. Supervised by the Fourth Division’s Security Office and Military Intelligence, the checkpoint is now abandoned. The heavily armed personnel who instilled fear, extorted money, and monitored every movement for over 12 years are gone, leaving a lasting impression of oppression, according to residents of rural Homs.
Makram, a resident of Al-Qusayr, described its removal as liberation from “a terrifying nightmare called the Shanshar checkpoint—a symbol of terror and humiliation.” Over the years, hundreds of young men were detained at the checkpoint, which lies 10 kilometers from Al-Qusayr and 15 kilometers from Homs.
The regime’s collapse last month brought down all checkpoints isolating Al-Qusayr, erected since Hezbollah took control of the town in 2012 to use it as a gateway for expanding its influence.
Fahima Mikhail, 85, expressed her relief: “Finally, Al-Qusayr is free from Hezbollah and Bashar. We have rid ourselves of a heavy nightmare.” Fahima, who was displaced between 2012 and 2015, recalled returning to a town devoid of its original inhabitants. “When we came back, we didn’t find our neighbors, friends, or relatives. The faces were all strangers who treated us like unwelcome guests,” she said.
She also recalled the horror of Israeli airstrikes targeting Al-Qusayr’s industrial zone, sometimes hitting areas near schools during class hours. “Hezbollah brought destruction to us,” she remarked.
Speaking about the regime’s checkpoints, Fahima said the locals endured humiliation and deprivation. “They impoverished the people, starved them, and imposed taxes on everything. Even if a poor man smuggled a liter of cooking oil from Lebanon to feed his children, they extorted him. Bread was obtained through humiliation, and we were deprived of electricity and water. The Orontes River’s waters were given by Bashar to hashish farmers who uprooted apricot and apple trees to plant narcotics instead.”
Having witnessed the French Mandate and every war in Syria, Fahima declared that Bashar al-Assad’s era was “the harshest.” She concluded: “Thank God, He didn’t disappoint us. They all fell in one day, and their chapter was closed. The real people of Al-Qusayr have returned—those we know, and who know us.”
Amid the devastation, a family returning from Lebanon unloaded household items near a house with cracked walls and missing doors and windows. The mother said: “We wanted to come back as soon as Al-Qusayr was liberated, but we waited 20 days because we feared crossing the border without proper papers.” Despite their home being “70 percent destroyed,” she said it was still better than a refugee tent.
Her 11-year-old daughter, Rahaf Mansour, expressed happiness despite the destruction. With rubble from Israeli airstrikes surrounding them, Rahaf said: “We’ve returned to our homeland, and now I can go to school and learn. In Lebanon, I didn’t have papers and was denied an education along with my siblings.”
Passersby greeted the family warmly, congratulating them on their “safety and victory.” “They recognized us by our faces,” the mother explained, sparing them the indignity of proving their identity.
Local estimates indicate that over 700 families have returned to Al-Qusayr from refugee camps in Lebanon and Idlib since the fall of the Assad regime. Some found their homes destroyed and moved into partially damaged houses, while others occupied homes abandoned by former regime loyalists. Many set up tents near the ruins of their homes.
A local security officer, speaking anonymously, confirmed that some Shiite families and regime loyalists who fled after Assad’s fall have also returned to Al-Qusayr. While tensions have arisen due to past grievances, efforts are underway to mediate disputes and maintain stability in the town.