Sudan and Ethiopia trade barbs over border dispute

Clashes erupted last year between both forces over Al-Fashqa, an area of fertile land settled by Ethiopian farmers.

Sudan has accused Ethiopia of an “unforgivable insult” in its sharpest statement yet since a decades-old border dispute flared late last year. Clashes erupted between Sudanese and Ethiopian forces over Al-Fashqa, an area of fertile land settled by Ethiopian farmers that Sudan says lies on its side of a border demarcated at the start of the 20th century, which Ethiopia rejects. In a statement on Thursday, Ethiopia’s foreign ministry said it believes “the conflict being trumpeted by the Sudanese government’s military wing could only serve the interests of a third party at the expense of the Sudanese people”.