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.



US Troops Need to Stay in Syria to Counter ISIS, Austin Says

FILE - US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin makes a speech at Diplomatic Academy of Ukraine in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)
FILE - US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin makes a speech at Diplomatic Academy of Ukraine in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)
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US Troops Need to Stay in Syria to Counter ISIS, Austin Says

FILE - US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin makes a speech at Diplomatic Academy of Ukraine in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)
FILE - US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin makes a speech at Diplomatic Academy of Ukraine in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)

The US needs to keep troops deployed in Syria to prevent the ISIS group from reconstituting as a major threat following the ouster of Bashar Assad's government, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told The Associated Press.
American forces are still needed there, particularly to ensure the security of detention camps holding tens of thousands of former ISIS fighters and family members, Austin said Wednesday in one of his final interviews before he leaves office.
According to estimates, there are as many as 8,000-10,000 ISIS fighters in the camps, and at least 2,000 of them are considered to be very dangerous.
If Syria is left unprotected, “I think ISIS fighters would enter back into the mainstream,” Austin said at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, where he traveled to discuss military aid for Ukraine with about 50 partner nations.
“I think that we still have some work to do in terms of keeping a foot on the throat of ISIS," he said.
President-elect Donald Trump tried to withdraw all forces from Syria in 2018 during his first term, which prompted the resignation of former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. As the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group, or HTS, advanced against Assad last month, Trump posted on social media that the US military needed to stay out of the conflict.
The US has about 2,000 troops in Syria to counter ISIS, up significantly from the 900 forces that officials said for years was the total number there. They were sent in 2015 after the militant group had conquered a large swath of Syria.
The continued presence of US troops was put into question after a lightning insurgency ousted Assad on Dec. 8, ending his family’s decades long rule.
US forces have worked with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces on operations against ISIS, providing cover for the group that Türkiye considers an affiliate of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which it identifies as a terror organization.
The Syrian transitional government is still taking shape, and uncertainty remains on what that will mean going forward.
The SDF “have been good partners. At some point, the SDF may very well be absorbed into the Syrian military and then Syria would own all the (ISIS detention) camps and hopefully keep control of them,” Austin said. "But for now I think we have to protect our interests there.”