Sudan has seized control of most of the disputed areas along the border between the two countries as war erupts in Ethiopia’s northern region.
“We believe that dialogue can solve any problem,” Sudan’s Information Minister Faisal Salih said Saturday (Dec. 26), “but our army will do its duty and retake all our lands. Our army has now recaptured 60 to 70 percent of Sudan’s land.”
More than 50,000 local refugees have fled to Sudan’s eastern region following the outbreak of war in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region in early November, leading to escalating tensions along the border between the two countries.
The land dispute in the border region between the two countries is mainly focused on the agricultural area of al-Fashqa, which has long been inhabited by Ethiopian farmers despite being within Sudan’s international border line. Armed clashes between the two countries’ armies have erupted in recent weeks in the border region, and talks on the border were held this week in the Sudanese capital Khartoum.
The Ethiopian government has accused the Sudanese side of launching an offensive in the border region. Ethiopian Foreign Minister Ato Demeke Mekonnen said ahead of this week’s talks that “Ethiopian farmers have been robbed of their produce, their camps have been destroyed and they have been prevented from harvesting on their farms. Some civilians have been killed and injured.”
Sudanese government officials say the border between the two countries was drawn in the early 20th century and that negotiations between the two countries are limited only to the distance separating the border markers.
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