Sudanese Officer Killed in Ethiopian Border Attack
Khartoum – Ahmed Younis
A Sudanese military officer was killed in an attack by Ethiopian forces near the eastern borders.
Forces from the Amhara region ambushed Monday a unit of the 17th Division of the Sudanese army in Jebel Halawa area between the Sennar and Qadarif states as it was patrolling the border, military sources said.
Ethiopians who fled the ongoing fighting in Tigray region, carry their belongings on the Sudan-Ethiopia border in Hamdayet village in eastern Kassala state, Sudan. (Reuters file photo)
They said the patrol leader, who was an officer with the rank of lieutenant, was killed.
Sources told the Sudan Tribune Newspaper that Ethiopia was deploying heavily-armed troops towards Qadarif state near the border Sudan.
In 2018, Sudanese military fought battles in the region, forcing Ethiopian troops to retreat to about seven kilometers. Addis Ababa later questioned the internationally recognized borders between Sudan and Ethiopia, which were marked according to a 1902 agreement.
Tensions have been high along the border since December 2020 with intermittent clashes erupting when Sudanese armed forces reclaimed agricultural territories in the fertile al-Fashqa region, which had been under Ethiopia’s control since 1995.
Meanwhile, Ethiopian refugees continued to flee from the Tigray region despite the official announcement of the end of military operations there.
About 67,000 Ethiopian refugees arrived in Sudan since the civil war erupted in the region, according to the Sudan Commission for Refugees.
It noted that most of them are women and children, and the Sudanese authorities have sent them to a number of refugee camps in Sudanese territory.
The displaced have tied their return to their country to the removal of the ruling regime in Addis Ababa, headed by Abiy Ahmed, a Nobel Peace Prize winner.
A European Union delegation, headed by Finnish Foreign Affairs Minister Pekka Haavisto, accompanied by the High Commissioner for Refugees and representatives of the Sudanese ministries of defense and foreign affairs, visited the refugee camps.
Refugees there told the western officials they refuse to return to Ethiopia, in light of the regime’s continued attack on Tigray.
Sudanese authorities informed the delegation the authorities were struggling to contain the large number of refugees, requesting international assistance to provide to their needs, as well as those of the Sudanese people, who have been affected by the influx.
Source:english.aawsat.com