Ethiopia, South Sudan signs military cooperation deal including intelligence sharing

JUBA – South Sudan government and its Ethiopian counterpart have signed a military cooperation agreement that includes intelligence sharing, Ethiopian state media reports, a day after South Sudan’s army chief General Johnson Juma Akot visited Addis Ababa.

According to the deal, areas of agreement also includes controlling human trafficking and controlling illicit arms trade along the border between the two countries. 

General Berhanu Jula, Ethiopian Defense Chief, and his South Sudanese counterpart signed the agreement in the capital Addis Ababa. 

South Sudan has been attempting to meditate on the border dispute between Ethiopia and Sudan. The border dispute started after the Sudanese forces took control of Ethiopian territories after November 4, 2020, as the Ethiopian Defense Force was battling over 250,000 Tigray People’s Liberation Forces. 

Ethiopia stated the dispute could be resolved through bilateral talk with the government Sudan using a mechanism that the two countries agreed upon. However, Ethiopian demanded a precondition  that Sudanese forces withdraw from Ethiopian territories that they controlled after November 4, 2020.