By AFP

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Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed arrived in the Sudanese capital Friday to broker talks between the ruling generals and protest leaders after a deadly crackdown by security forces this week.

Abiy arrived at Khartoum international airport and headed for a series of meetings with the ruling generals, an AFP correspondent reported from the airport.

The Ethiopian premier was scheduled to meet protest leaders later.

"We have received an invitation from the Ethiopian embassy to meet the Ethiopian prime minister at 11:00 am (0900 GMT) and we will go," prominent protest leader Omar al-Digeir told AFP.

A source told the The EastAfrican that the opposition alliance was invited to meet Dr Abiy during his one-day visit.

“Alliance for Freedom and Change has received an invitation for a meeting with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed who will visit the country on Friday. The agenda of the invitation is only related to the talks over the political crisis in Sudan,” the source said.

Dr Abiy’s mediation comes amid the suspension of Sudan from all African Union activities until the military rulers hand over to civilian-led authority.

Sudan unrest has claimed more than 100 lives after security forces stormed a weeks-long sit-in outside the military headquarters in Khartoum.

The protests forced the military to oust veteran president Omar al-Bashir in April.

Demonstrations however remained camped out at the army headquarters calling for power to the handed over to civilians.