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Ethiopians In Sudan

Mohammed Saad

My friend Muawya El-Mardi, who is fond of Ethiopia and Ethiopians told me that when he travels to Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia, he never feels that he is outside Sudan, had it not been for the weather and the language.

According to Muawya, he has never been treated as a foreigner or a second-class citizen as is the case in other countries. Instead, he finds due respect and is always cordially received because he is a Sudanese national.

As for me, I haven’t visited Ethiopia, except for a stint at the Addis Ababa Airport on a transit, but I saw the Ethiopians in Khartoum and associated with them as colleagues.

I recognized how those people value others highly. They work in sensitive places such as restaurants, barbers saloons, and coffee shops, which are places that require certain standards of people who should be honest and trustworthy; standards that they are up to.

The Ethiopians living in Sudan are also met with the same respect the Sudanese have for one another as they reside, work, and practice rights including movement, work, ownership etc.

In General, Ethiopians in Sudan are famous for sophistication and kindness in their dealings even within the political disputes between Khartoum and Addis Ababa, a matter which we hope to sustain soon.

Despite the ups and downs in the political relations between Khartoum and Addis Ababa, there has rarely been any escalation on social media outlets between the two countries; contrary to what happens with our sisterly country Egypt, as the latter usually inflames the political dispute, turning it into societal dispute through its social media outlets, and transforming the political issue to a war of words between the two countries.

I believe that the relations between the people of Ethiopia and Sudan have overstepped the politicians’ disputes through the popular bases due to the strong links between the people of the two countries.

It is high time for the governments of Sudan and Ethiopia to consider the strong relationship between the people of the two countries and to avoid involving them, via media, in the political dispute between Khartoum and Addis Ababa, thereby sustaining the model relationship between Ethiopian and Sudanese nationals.

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