Following the alleged arrest, execution, and public exhibition of the remains of seven soldiers and a civilian murdered over the weekend, clashes between the Sudanese army and those of Ethiopia have been reported at the disputed al-Fashaga border area.
Tuesday, Sudan reported that it had launched heavy artillery and reclaimed a number of its territory that the Ethiopian army had been occupying. According to Assefa Ashege, a top security officer in Ethiopia’s Amhara region, “Sudan’s army fired long-distance artillery from Monday morning until Tuesday afternoon, but nobody was hurt.”
The conflict over al-Fashaqa, where Ethiopia’s Amhara region and Sudan’s Gedaref state, which has been inhabited by Ethiopian farmers for decades, has recently risen, along with a diplomatic row over Ethiopia’s construction of a hydropower dam.
As the Sudanese attack went on, military aircraft were reportedly seen circling the disputed area.
Seven Sudanese soldiers were allegedly captured and executed by Addis Abeba’s army, according to Sudan. However, it has also insisted and charged Sudanese soldiers with invading its country.
With signs saying “Fashaqa belongs to Sudan,” a handful of activists and journalists gathered in front of the Ethiopian embassy in Sudan’s capital Khartoum earlier on Tuesday.
Concerns about security and stability in the east African region have been raised as a result of the rising rhetoric between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda regarding a potential conflict over rebel control of a shared border.
The two African nations are also embroiled in a dispute over Ethiopia’s filling of a massive hydroelectric dam along the River Nile.
