Burhan: No Negotiations Before Ethiopia Recognizes Sudanese Sovereignty Over Al-Fashaqa

 Head of Sudan’s Transitional Sovereign Council Abdel Fattah al-Burhan (AP)
Head of Sudan’s Transitional Sovereign Council Abdel Fattah al-Burhan (AP)
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Burhan: No Negotiations Before Ethiopia Recognizes Sudanese Sovereignty Over Al-Fashaqa

 Head of Sudan’s Transitional Sovereign Council Abdel Fattah al-Burhan (AP)
Head of Sudan’s Transitional Sovereign Council Abdel Fattah al-Burhan (AP)

Head of Sudan’s Transitional Sovereign Council Abdel Fattah al-Burhan said that no negotiations with Ethiopia would take place before Addis Ababa officially recognizes Sudanese sovereignty over the Al-Fashaqa area and demarcates the border.

During a visit to units in the Omdurman military zone, Burhan called on Ethiopia to withdraw its troops from all Sudanese territory on Wednesday.

He was accompanied by Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Mohamed Osman al-Hussein, the inspector general, director of the Medical Services Department, Head of Karary University, Head of Military Intelligence, and other senior officials.

“Unless there is an acknowledgment by the Ethiopian side that these lands are Sudanese and signs have been placed, we will not negotiate with anyone,” Burhan stressed.

He also pledged that the armed forces would remain the real protector of the people and the revolution, affirming its full commitment to respect popular choices.

Burhan further expressed his aspirations to preserve Sudan’s unity, vowing to coordinate with civilian political forces and peace partners.

“The country’s transitional phase has gone through enormous challenges that necessitated making many concessions and sacrifices,” he said.

Burhan also urged the armed factions that didn’t sign the peace agreement to sit and negotiate to reach an agreement that would contribute to building a modern state.

Sudan’s transitional government had deployed troops on the border strip with Ethiopia, to secure agricultural areas in al-Fashaqa.

Ethiopia and Sudan share a common boundary of over 1600 km which was drawn through a series of treaties between Ethiopia and the colonial powers of Britain and Italy. To date, this boundary has not been clearly demarcated.



Far-Right Israeli Minister Ben-Gvir Visits Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound

 Palestinians attend Eid al-Fitr holiday celebrations by the Dome of the Rock shrine in the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP)
Palestinians attend Eid al-Fitr holiday celebrations by the Dome of the Rock shrine in the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP)
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Far-Right Israeli Minister Ben-Gvir Visits Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound

 Palestinians attend Eid al-Fitr holiday celebrations by the Dome of the Rock shrine in the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP)
Palestinians attend Eid al-Fitr holiday celebrations by the Dome of the Rock shrine in the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP)

Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir visited the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem’s Old City on Wednesday, his spokesperson said, prompting strong condemnation from Jordan and Palestinian group Hamas.

The firebrand politician was visiting the site, which is sacred to Jews and Muslims, in occupied east Jerusalem after returning to the Israeli government last month following the resumption of the war against Hamas in Gaza.

Ben-Gvir had quit the cabinet in January in protest at the ceasefire agreement in the Palestinian territory.

Since the formation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government at the end of 2022, Ben-Gvir has made several trips to the Al-Aqsa compound, each time triggering international outcry.

In a statement, the Jordanian Foreign Ministry condemned Wednesday’s visit as a “storming” and “an unacceptable provocation.”

Hamas called it a “provocative and dangerous escalation,” saying the visit was “part of the ongoing genocide against our Palestinian people.”

“We call on our Palestinian people and our youth in the West Bank to escalate their confrontation... in defense of our land and our sanctities, foremost among them the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque,” it said in a statement.

The site is Islam’s third-holiest and a symbol of Palestinian national identity.

Known to Jews as the Temple Mount, it is also Judaism’s holiest place, revered as the site of the second temple destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.

Under the status quo maintained by Israel, which has occupied east Jerusalem and its Old City since 1967, Jews and other non-Muslims are allowed to visit the compound during specified hours, but they are not permitted to pray there or display religious symbols.

Ben-Gvir’s spokesperson told AFP the minister “went there because the site was opened (for non-Muslims) after 13 days,” during which access was reserved for Muslims for the festival of Eid al-Fitr and the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

In recent years, growing numbers of Jewish ultranationalists have defied the rules, including Ben-Gvir, who publicly prayed there in 2023 and 2024.

The Israeli government has said repeatedly that it intends to uphold the status quo at the compound but Palestinian fears about its future have made it a flashpoint for violence.