ADDIS ABABA — Regional leaders voiced alarm
Wednesday over escalating tensions between Ethiopia and Sudan in a disputed
border area and appealed for dialogue to stem the crisis.
اضافة اعلان
The calls by the
African Union (AU) and another
regional grouping followed claims by Khartoum that the Ethiopian army had
executed seven Sudanese soldiers and a civilian during a clash in the volatile
Al-Fashaqa area last week — allegations denied by Addis Ababa.
Sudan announced Monday it would recall its
ambassador to Addis Ababa over the incident in Al-Fashaqa, a fertile strip of
land that has long been a source of friction between the two states.
AU Commission chief
Moussa Faki Mahamat “is
following with deep concern the escalating military tension between the Federal
Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and the Republic of Sudan and deeply regrets
the loss of life at their common border,” the pan-African body said in a
statement.
“The chairperson appeals for complete refrain from
any military action whatever its origin and calls for dialogue between the two
brotherly countries to solve any dispute.”
The AU’s concern was echoed by another regional
bloc, the
Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), which also called
on the two countries “to actively seek diplomatic means to find a lasting and
sustainable solution on the matter”.
‘Perfidious act’
Sudan on Monday accused
Ethiopia of capturing the soldiers in Al-Fashaqa on June 22, announcing it was
recalling its envoy and would lodge a complaint with the UN Security Council
and regional organizations.
The army, which has been in power since a coup in
October 2021, vowed that the “perfidious act will not pass”.
And on Wednesday, the military published photographs
of the slain soldiers, along with their names and ranks.
But
Addis Ababa has in turn claimed that Sudanese
forces had crossed into Ethiopian territory and that the casualties resulted
from a skirmish with a local militia, denying its soldiers were in the area at
the time.
The Ethiopian government said it rejected the
“misrepresentation of facts” and that the incident was “deliberately concocted”
to undermine relations.
The Sudan Tribune newspaper reported that the Sudanese
army had launched an attack Tuesday on Ethiopian troops in the Al-Fashaqa area
but this was denied by army spokesman Nabil Abdalla.
“We have not attacked anyone and we will not and we
are not planning that. But we will not allow any armed force from another
country that wants to cross our international border. It’s our right legally to
deal with it,” he told AFP in Khartoum.
The report was also denied by the
Ethiopian side,
with an official saying on condition of anonymity: “This is not true, just unconfirmed
and misinformation.”
On Monday, Sudan’s military leader
Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan visited Al-Fashaqa, where he instructed soldiers “to not allow any
new movements or encroachments on Sudanese lands and against its citizens.”
Khartoum and Addis Ababa have been at odds for years
over Al-Fashaqa.
The region, which lies close to Ethiopia’s war-torn
northern region of Tigray, has long been cultivated by Ethiopian farmers but is
claimed by Sudan.
The dispute has sparked sporadic clashes between the
two sides, some fatal.
The rift feeds
into wider tensions over land and water between the neighbors, particularly
stoked by Ethiopia’s mega-dam on the Blue Nile.
Sudan and Egypt, both downstream countries, have
been opposed to the
Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam and pushed for an agreement
on the filling of its reservoir and the dam’s operations.
Tensions were heightened further after fighting
erupted in Tigray in November 2020, sending tens of thousands of refugees
fleeing into Sudan.
Sudan has been roiled by economic and political
turmoil since Burhan led the military coup that upended a transition to
civilian rule following the 2019 ouster of president Omar Al-Bashir.
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