ADDIS ABABA, 11 January 2021 – Ethiopia has accused the Sudanese army of “killing and displacing” Ethiopian farmers on their common border, describing the attack on the farmers as “unacceptable”.
The farmers killed and displaced where living along the border between the two countries, according to a statement published Sunday by the country’s foreign ministry on its Facebook page.
Sudan Ethiopia Border Dispute Al Jazeera
The border between the two countries has “been the subject of dispute… for more than a century,” the statement admitted.
Ethiopian officials have said the border demarcation exercise which was not finalized, as planned, in 1902-1903, is to blame for the ongoing dispute.
The signing of exchange notes between the two countries on 18 July 1972 kicked the can down the road.
Both Khartoum and Addis Ababa reject the maps brandished by each other claiming to show where their common border should run.
Fresh Sudan-Ethiopia border clashes displacing people – Photo Madote
The Ethiopian statement stressed that the current border dispute has been handled amicably in the past and Addis Ababa commits to do so going forward.
It warns that Sudan’s attempt to used armed attacks on farmers to forcefully change the situation on the ground violates international law and the agreements reached over the more than 100 years by the two countries.
