MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 26th January, 2021) Ethiopia's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday called on the Sudanese army to withdraw from the disputed border area to facilitate "amicably" resolving the issue.
Tensions between the two countries escalated in recent months. In December, four Sudanese soldiers were killed and a dozen others were injured in a fight with Ethiopian militias along the border. Khartoum claims that the Ethiopian military supports militias, a claim denied by Addis Ababa. Meanwhile, Ethiopia accuses Sudan of "encroaching" on its borders.�
"Ethiopia still believes that the issue can be solved amicably through negotiation. But before the commencement of any negotiation, we demand the Sudanese army to evacuate the area that it has occupied currently," the ministry said in a post on its official Facebook page.
The ministry also accused Sudanese authorities of "beating war drums" and continuing to loot Ethiopian farmers.
The Sudan-Ethiopia border rivalry goes back decades and is centered around the area known as al-Fashaga, where Sudan's Gedaref state meets with the Amhara region of Ethiopia. The tensions were triggered by mass settlements of Ethiopian peasants on Sudan's territory, and the situation is further complicated by the presence of several militias in Ethiopia's northwestern provinces.
