Sudan has shut its eastern border with Eritrea, days after Khartoum declared an emergency in the neighboring state of Kassala. The official news agency SUNA has published the governor's decree to close all border crossings with Eritrea from the night of January 5th. The decree gave no explanation, but referred to President Omar al-Bashir's declaration on December 30th of a six-month state of emergency in Kassala and North Kordofan state. CGTN's Yasser Hakim has more.

On Sunday, The governor of Kassala, the border state that received the Sudanese troops said these troops have arrived to help crackdown on drug traffickers. It aims to enforce the use of law and disarm groups infiltrating from the borders with Eritrea. Some had linked Sudan's troop movement on the Eritrea borders to several Media reports about Egypt deploying forces on an Eritrean island east of Sudan. Egypt has not confirmed it has no troops in Eritrea.

MOHAMED MEKKAWY JOURNALIST, MASRAWY "The Egyptian troops abroad are on two assignments. As part of the UN peace keeping troops in several conflict ridden African countries. The others are forces that are securing the sea route to the Suez Canal as part of the Arab military coalition."

YASSER HAKIM CAIRO "The reason why some have linked these developments with Egypt is because of its recent fall out with Sudan. Khartoum had recalled its ambassador from Cairo a couple of days earlier."

Cairo had not responded yet to the ambassador recall. But this move further fuelled tensions between the two neighbours.

MOHAMED MEKKAWY JOURNALIST, MASRAWY "The causes for the divisions are not new, namely the renaissance dam, the Nile waters. The issue of Egypt support to rebels in Darfour as Sudan claims. There is the border dispute and the latest visit by Turkish president Erdogan to Khartoum in which the Sudanese president handed over the red sea island of Sawaken to Turkey. This created fears amongst gulf nations such as Saudi Arabia and emirates in addition to Egypt."

Some analysts expect French mediation to resolve the pending issues. But they warn the two long time friends should defuse the crisis, before it turns into a new conflict in the heated region. Yasser Hakim, CGTN, Cairo.