The dispute between Ethiopia and Sudan over the "Al-Fashaqa" border area does not end until it begins again, to draw attention to a forgotten focus of tension, due to which the dispute between the two neighbors has become a recurring ritual since the 1950s.

However, the escalation situation may represent a different turn this time, due to its association with "geopolitical" dimensions, in light of the intensification of competition between Ethiopia and the downstream countries over the files of re-sharing the Nile water and the Renaissance Dam.

Delimitation crisis

Immediately after the outbreak of the crisis again late last year, Ethiopia demanded that the two countries resolve their differences on borders peacefully, in accordance with bilateral agreements and the mechanisms of the Joint Borders Committee formed by it.

In his statements yesterday, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said that his country's position does not express weakness, but rather strength and patience, as he put it.

The Ethiopian Prime Minister believed that the call not to engage in wars and conflicts with others and the rejection of hatred is not considered impotence, and that "offering peace to those who violate the borders are my father."

According to the Ethiopian Foreign Ministry, the border agreement concluded in 1902 defined the borders only on maps, while the demarcation was conducted on the ground by the British Major "Quin" in 1903, without the presence of an Ethiopian representative or a mandate from the Ethiopian government. As a result, the "Gwen" line remained. A subject of disagreement and disputed issue, especially in the areas north of "Mount Daglash," according to the Ethiopian Foreign Ministry.

Dina Mufti stipulated that the Sudanese forces return to their positions before November 8 (Anatolia)

The Ethiopian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Ambassador Dina Mufti, says that in order to resolve this conflict, the two countries agreed in 1972 to initiate a process of redrawing the areas north of "Mount Daglash", provided that, prior to demarcation, the problem arising from the presence of farmers who are citizens of the two countries in the state's lands is studied. The other, in order to find an amicable solution to it, according to the agreement.

In his speech to Al-Jazeera Net, Dina Mufti indicated that, based on the 1972 agreement, several committees were formed, but they did not complete their tasks assigned to them, despite holding dozens of meetings, and the Mufti clarified that during the continuation of the negotiations the two countries signed an understanding in 2005 stipulating that the status quo remains on the borders. As it is - as a temporary solution - pending a final agreement.

Dina Mufti affirmed that the 2005 Understanding is a complementary and temporary solution to the 1972 agreement, not a substitute for it, considering that what the Sudanese army did is considered a violation of these agreements, and that the solution is to adhere to the 2005 Understanding and to reactivate the joint committees resulting from the 1972 agreement to hold their meetings and restore The demarcation of border points, which should not be points to separate the citizens of the two countries, insofar as they are points of contact that strengthen and consolidate cooperation between them, according to Dina Mufti.

In his latest statement today, a spokesman for the Ethiopian Foreign Ministry refused to link the Renaissance Dam file to the border dispute and stipulated that the Sudanese forces return to their positions before the events of last November 8, and then dialogue and negotiation begin.

He added in a press conference that his country's forces were busy implementing the law in the north and took advantage of that and carried out attacks on our borders, and that his country rejects the de facto policy, and denied that an agreement had been concluded with the head of the Transitional Sovereign Council in Sudan, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and that all that was agreed upon That the two countries control borders and prevent groups opposed to peace between the two countries.

Sudanese army soldiers on the border with Ethiopia (communication sites)

Accusations of Sudan incursion into Ethiopia

According to the official Ethiopian account, on November 8, after the Ethiopian army moved to Tigray, the Sudanese army entered the lands from which the Ethiopian army withdrew, plundered property and burned civilian camps, killing and attacking Ethiopians and displacing thousands, in violation of the 2005 understanding that stipulated The status quo on the borders remains as it is, and these developments have prompted an emergency round for the high-level political committee on border issues between the two countries to be held in Khartoum. However, the meeting did not result in any agreement, as the two parties agreed to submit reports to the leaderships of the two countries that the next meeting would be held. In Addis Ababa, at a date to be determined, which has not yet occurred.

In light of the escalation between the two countries, the President of South Sudan, Salva Kiir Mayardit, offered mediation between the two countries aimed at providing an opportunity for dialogue and a diplomatic solution.

Osman shirt

Regardless of the complexities of border demarcation, Ethiopian officials used to accuse a "third party" working through elements in the Sudanese transitional government, with the aim of poisoning relations between Sudan and Ethiopia, and dragging the two countries into war with the aim of exhausting them, even if no Ethiopian official mentioned the name of the "third party." Frankly, Ethiopian experts and observers pointed an accusing finger at Egypt, as "Imbiali Benny," a political studies expert at the University of Bahardar, said that Cairo seeks to ignite war with the aim of weakening Ethiopia and disrupting it from moving forward with the change of geopolitics brought about by the Renaissance Dam.

Benny considered that the escalation of the border crisis with Sudan, which dates back to 120 years, is nothing but an Osman shirt through which Cairo wants to achieve its goals, indicating in his speech to Al-Jazeera Net, that Egypt had previously explicitly announced that it would take all methods to obstruct the path of the Renaissance Dam because it She thinks it conflicts with her interests.

He added that Cairo seeks to make the border crisis a pressure card, in the file of the Renaissance Dam, and Ethiopia has previously confirmed that the Renaissance Dam is a technical, not political, file.

Popular resentment

On the popular level and the Ethiopian public opinion, there is great dissatisfaction with the Sudanese position, as the Ethiopian journalist Muhammad Al-Arousi said that the Sudanese army did not observe the principle of friendship and fraternal relations between the two countries, indicating in his speech to Al-Jazeera Net that it took advantage of the internal crisis that Ethiopia is experiencing, and escalated, Rather, it was to provide support to Ethiopia to get out of its crisis, as a kind of return to it, which was the first to come to the aid of brotherly Khartoum during the Sudanese revolution.

Al-Arousi said that through past experiences about border disputes, the war has always failed to resolve any border disputes, which, if their time is long or short, must be settled on peaceful and legal grounds.

The Ethiopian journalist added, "As long as this is the case, and in the end it will come to that end, the waste of lives and resources is a form of tampering with the destinies of peoples."