Sudan’s Al-Bashir to visit Ethiopia tomorrow

Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir will visit Ethiopia tomorrow, where he will hold meetings with Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn and other government officials.

The two leaders would “discuss the political and economic relations between the countries as well as the regional situation in IGAD and in the Horn of Africa,” Sudanese Foreign Minister, Ibrahim Ghandour, said.

Ghandour confirmed that the talks would try to find ways to speed up joint projects on power, security and infrastructure that had previously been agreed upon by the two countries. He said the two leaders are expected to discuss ways of removing obstacles hindering the progress of signed accords.

The Ethiopian ministry’s spokesman, Tewolde Mulgeta, added that Al-Bashir is also expected to visit some of the industrial parks that Ethiopia has been building as part of its efforts to transform its economy.

This will be the 20th time Al-Bashir has visited Ethiopia since 2009 when a warrant for his arrest was issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague for alleged war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan.

Ethiopia is not a signatory to the ICC.