UPDATE – Sudan to reopen Eritrea border after one-year closure

UPDATES WITH AL-BASHIR QUOTE; ADDS BACKGROUND</p> <p><br></p> <p>KHARTOUM (AA) – Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on Thursday announced that his country’s eastern border with neighboring Eritrea would reopen after one year of closure, according to Sudanese state television.</p> <p><br></p> <p>“I announce here, from Kassala, that we are opening the border with Eritrea because they are our brothers and our people,” he said.</p> <p><br></p> <p>Al-Bashir made the announcement while addressing supporters in the city of Kassala, regional capital of Sudan’s eastern Kassala State.</p> <p><br></p> <p>The president went on to assert that relations between the two countries were “based on history, geography and blood”.</p> <p><br></p> <p>On Jan. 6 of last year, al-Bashir announced the closure of the country’s eastern border with Eritrea.</p> <p><br></p> <p>The move came shortly after a presidential decree imposing a state of emergency in the border state of Kassala.</p> <p><br></p> <p>This was followed by the deployment of military forces to the border area with the ostensible aim of combating human, drug and weapons trafficking. </p> <p><br></p> <p>Earlier this month, parliament extended the state of emergency — which also applies to Sudan’s western North Kordofan State — by a further six months.