Sudan to supply power to Eritrea: Media

Khartoum: Sudan plans to supply neighbouring Eritrea with electricity, official media reported on Friday, just months after Khartoum said it would buy power from Eritrea`s rival Ethiopia.

The Sudanese Electricity Transmission Company has begun work on a 45-kilometre (28-mile) line between eastern Sudan`s Kassala state to Teseney, just over the border in Eritrea, the SUNA news agency said. The announcement came during the second day of an official visit to Khartoum by Eritrean President Issaias Afeworki. Issaias and his Sudanese counterpart Omar al-Bashir discussed economic cooperation "especially with regard to the electricity power linkage", SUNA reported earlier. Eritrea is one of the world`s poorest nations. Sudan tries to maintain a balanced relationship between Eritrea and its other eastern neighbour Ethiopia. Issaias is expected to end his Sudanese trip on Saturday. In December Sudan and Ethiopia inaugurated a cross-border electricity link.  Bashir and Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn opened a 321-kilometre line between Gedaref power station and Ethiopia`s Amhara state, SUNA reported at the time. Sudan would initially buy 100 megawatts, it said. Ethiopia is building the 6,000-megawatt Grand Renaissance hydro development which will be Africa`s largest when finished in 2017.