The brinkmanship over Al-Fashaqa has alarmed regional leaders and fed into wider tensions between the rival powers of Sudan and Ethiopia over land and water in the Horn of Africa. Sudan said the soldiers were "kidnapped from Sudanese territories" on June 22, taken into Ethiopia, and later "killed and their bodies publicly maimed". Ethiopia's army hit back, denying any role whatsoever in the killings, and vowing to drive Sudanese forces off any seized land if ordered. Addis Ababa said the casualties resulted from a skirmish with a local militia and accused Sudanese forces of violating Ethiopian territory. It is far from the first bloody incident in the restive strip of fertile land along the shared border.

Source: Ethiopian News July 01, 2022 23:03 UTC