The Sudanese foreign minister Mustafa Othman Ismael has expected that Presidents of Ethiopia, Sudan, and Yemen will officially sign a treaty for the foundation of "Sanaa coalition" during their meeting in Addis Ababa. Ismael told journalists in a statement on Saturday that leaders of the three countries will discuss the treaty, which provides for establishing the coalition, and will sign it on Monday if approved. Ismael explained that the presidency of the coalition will be transferred during the meeting from Yemen to Ethiopia, and the leaders will review a report from the ministerial council of the coalition for the foreign ministers of the three countries, during their meeting on Sunday over tripartite relations and regional security. On the other hand, Sudan’s ambassador in Sanaa, Othman al-Sayed, denied that the Sanaa coalition will be directed against any country or group, noting that it rather aims to strengthen relations among the three countries. This came in retaliation to press reports indicating that this coalition is a sort of alliance in challenge of Eritrea, a country in tension with the three said countries.
Sudan’s denying it, a good sign that they may plan on gobbling up a piece of Eritrea to make up for their losses in the south as a result of the SPLA deal. Eritrea is the #1 enemy of Ethiopia too, so that fits. I’m not sure what Yemen gets out of the deal. One thing to keep in mind is that the Sudanese-backed al-Qaeda affiliate Eritrean Islamic Jihad has been up and running in Eritrea’s northern areas (i.e. the ones that Bashir likely plans to annex if it comes to that) for awhile now.
The Ethiopian foreign ministry announced that the prime minister, Meles Zenawi, and the Sudanese President, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, and his Yemeni counterpart, Ali Abdullah Saleh, will discuss means of strengthening political, economic and social relations among their countries. The Ministry added that talks during the summit which will start on Monday, and last for two days, and will deal with means of strengthening peace and security in the African horn. |