Sudan: new violence on the border with Ethiopia
Sudanese soldiers clash with Ethiopian militiamen and soldiers on the border with Ethiopia (illustrative image) Ebrahim HAMID / AFP
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
According to several Sudanese media, six civilians were killed and two people missing after further violence on the border with Ethiopia on Monday January 11.
The two neighbors accuse each other and tension continues to be high in the el-Fashaga triangle region, a fertile area claimed by the two countries.
Publicity
Read more
With our correspondent in Nairobi,
Sébastien Németh
Several Sudanese sources implicate the Shifta.
These Ethiopian militiamen, auxiliary to the army, allegedly attacked the village of Leya while the inhabitants were harvesting corn.
The Sudanese army is said to have intervened to repel the attackers, but Ethiopian soldiers are also said to have joined in the clashes.
Ethiopian fighter jets are also said to have flown over the area, in a worrying development in this crisis which continues to worsen.
The Sudanese army reportedly recovered the bodies of killed civilians before burying them in the presence of military officials and residents.
This very fertile area has been partly occupied by the Ethiopians for decades.
But since the war in Tigray began, the military resources of Addis Ababa have been redeployed to the north and the Sudanese army took the opportunity to take back part of this land, the demarcation of which has never been clear ...
This new incident sparked anger from the Sudanese governor of El Gedaref.
Sulayman Ali declared that Khartoum "
will not give up a square centimeter of territory
".
He promised to "
restore the authority of the state over the entire extent of the border
", including a development plan to consolidate the Sudanese presence.
Dina Mufti, spokesperson for the Ethiopian Foreign Ministry, accused Sudan of continuing to expand its presence on Ethiopian territory.
He said his country had tried to resolve the crisis peacefully, adding that war was not an option.
However, Dina Mufti clarified that Ethiopian patience had its limits.
Newsletter
Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_FR
Sudan
Ethiopia