Sudan, Ethiopia agree to resume joint border committee meetings

Khartoum, Dec 21 Sudan and Ethiopia have agreed to resume meetings of the joint border committee on Tuesday at a time when the border area has been witnessing recent skirmishes.

"The joint border committee between Sudan and Ethiopia will resume work on December 22," Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok's office said in a statement on Sunday.

According to the statement, Hamdok and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed held a meeting on the sidelines of the summit of the Inter-Governmental Authority for Development, which started in Djibouti on Sunday.

The last meeting of the committee was held this May in Addis Ababa, capital of Ethiopia.

On December 16, the Sudanese army announced that Ethiopian forces and militias ambushed an army force inside the Sudanese territories on the border line between the two countries.

The border area between Sudan and Ethiopia often witnesses armed clashes by militias during the preparation for agricultural season.

( With inputs from IANS )