Abiy Ahmed Meets Sudan Sovereignty Council Deputy Malik Agar in Djibouti to Calm Dispute

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed met in Djibouti with Deputy Chairman of Sudan’s Sovereignty Council Malik Agar during a closed session held by Djibouti President Ismail Omar on Saturday.

“It seems the Ethiopian government has found itself compelled to defuse the dispute with Sudan, after American warnings that analysts say were stern and stemmed from deep concern about the future of the Bab al-Mandeb Strait”

Al-Jazeera Net

The Sudanese army accused Ethiopia of launching drone attacks on Khartoum Airport last Monday, while Addis Ababa denied the accusation and instead accused Khartoum of backing fighters from the Tigray Liberation Front and violating Ethiopia's territorial integrity.

Al-Jazeera Net

The meeting was described as an effort to calm a long-running dispute between the two sides, with a source telling Al Jazeera that the two sides agreed to work to contain their differences.

The reporting also linked the diplomatic push to fears about the future of the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, with analysts saying American threats reflected deep concern about that maritime corridor.

Political analyst Ammar Awad said the Djibouti meeting could be a prelude to resolving the dispute if Abiy Ahmed stops exporting his internal problems to Sudan, in an interview with Al Jazeera.

Yassin Ahmed, head of the Ethiopian Institute for Popular Diplomacy, responded by saying other parties including Egypt and Eritrea are trying to use Sudan to strike Ethiopian interests, and he said the meeting may signal movement toward breaking down the dispute.

Akhir Khabar

Researcher Ibrahim Idris attributed Abiy Ahmed’s meeting with Malik Agar in Djibouti to Ethiopia’s effort to resolve the dispute through dialogue after the United States sent a direct and clear message to Addis Ababa not to cross borders with neighboring states.

Idris also tied the diplomatic pressure to concerns that the crisis in the Strait of Hormuz could spill over into the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, potentially drawing the whole world into the Horn of Africa region.

The reporting said the Djibouti meeting appears, in the same speaker's view, to be an Ethiopian attempt to contain the situation after Khartoum provided evidence that drones originated from Ethiopian territory.

“SadaNews - It seems that the Ethiopian government found itself compelled to ease the disagreement with Sudan, following strict American threats that analysts say stem from deep concern about the future of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait”

وكالة صدى نيوز

Reuters was cited as reporting in February that Ethiopia hosts a camp to train thousands of fighters for the Rapid Support Forces and that it had developed the nearby Assosa Airport for use in drone operations.

Last week, Reuters was also cited as saying that strikes targeted military targets and civilian areas in Khartoum, where residents, ministries and international agencies have begun to return since the army regained control in March 2025.

The Sudanese army spokesman, Brig. Gen. Asim Awad Abdul Wahab, was quoted saying the government has evidence that the attacks targeted several states and that they originated from the Bahir Dar airport in Ethiopia.