Sudan to reopen Eritrea border after one-year closure

KHARTOUM

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on Thursday announced that his country’s eastern border with neighboring Eritrea would reopen after one year of closure, according to Sudanese state television.

“I announce here, from Kassala, that we are opening the border with Eritrea because they are our brothers and our people,” he said.

Al-Bashir made the announcement while addressing supporters in the city of Kassala, regional capital of Sudan’s eastern Kassala State.

The president went on to assert that relations between the two countries were “based on history, geography and blood”.

On Jan. 6 of last year, al-Bashir announced the closure of the country’s eastern border with Eritrea.

The move came shortly after a presidential decree imposing a state of emergency in the border state of Kassala.

This was followed by the deployment of military forces to the border area with the ostensible aim of combating human, drug and weapons trafficking.

Earlier this month, parliament extended the state of emergency -- which also applies to Sudan’s western North Kordofan State -- by a further six months.