Sudan govt denies Ethiopian claim of support for Tigray Liberation Front

December 13 - 2021 KHARTOUM

Ethiopian refugees in Um Rakouba refugee camp, in Sudan's El Gedaref (File photo: WFP / Leni Kinzli)

The Sudan government has denied accusations reported by the Ethiopian government radio agency Fana Broadcasting alleging Khartoum support for the Tigray Liberation Front*, in the ongoing internal violence in Ethiopia.

Through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Sudan government denied this, and called on Ethiopia to “stop accusing Sudan of taking aggressive stances and practices that are not supported by evidence on the ground”. The Khartoum government did affirm its “full commitment to the principles of good neighbourliness and non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries”.

Relations between Sudan and Ethiopia, already strained due to the impasse regarding the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), and hundreds of thousands of refugees that have streamed into Sudan after fleeing the war in Tigray,

In August, Sudan’s Ambassador to Ethiopia, Jamal El Sheikh, was been summoned “to consult and identify options” after Ethiopia refused offers by Sudan to mediate in the ongoing and escalating conflict in the Tigray region.

In a further sign of a souring of relations between the neighbouring countries, the past weeks have seen renewed border clashes between Sudanese army troops and Ethiopian forces in the El Fashaga border region, which has been disputed ever since an agreement on border demarcation in 1902.

* In November last year, war erupted in Ethiopia’s Tigray between the federal government in Addis Ababa and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed accused Tigrayan troops of attacking federal military camps.

The war has caused a devastating humanitarian crisis, mostly in the northern region. According to the IOM Emergency Site Assessment (ESA) report of May, the conflict has displaced an estimated 1.9 million people in Tigray.

The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) says that according to humanitarian aid agencies like the UN World Food Programme (WFP), more than five million people in Tigray are in urgent need of food aid. About 60,000 Ethiopians have fled to Sudan and are camping in eastern towns bordering Ethiopia.

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