And on Sunday, the Sudanese army announced in a statement the killing of six of its members and the wounding of more than 31 officers and soldiers in an attack in the fertile agricultural area of Al-Fashqa, attributed to armed groups and militias linked to the Ethiopian army.
This area was the scene of bloody clashes last year that left, according to the army statement, 90 Sudanese forces dead.
However, in statements broadcast by official media on Sunday, government spokesman Legisi Tolo denied the reports that the Ethiopian army had launched an attack on Sudan, saying that they were “unfounded.”
“A large group of rebels, bandits and terrorists have entered (from Sudan),” he added. The Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation broadcast his statements without any evidence for that.
He stressed that “the Ethiopian National Defense Force and the local militia have eliminated them.”
He said the Tigray People’s Liberation Front is conducting training in Sudan and receiving support from “foreign backers” he did not specify.
For years, Ethiopian farmers have been cultivating the Fashaqa area, which Sudan says lies within its territory.
And in November 2020, roughly coinciding with Abyei Ahmed sending federal forces to Tigray to overthrow the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, Khartoum deployed soldiers in Al-Fashqa in a move that Addis Ababa considered a provocation.
However, Legis said that Ethiopia is keen to resolve the issue peacefully.
“The National Defense Forces have no intention of launching an attack on any sovereign country,” he said, referring to the military.
“There are lands invaded by the Sudanese forces. The government is seeking to settle (the conflict) by a peaceful process through dialogue and negotiation,” he added.
The armed conflict in northern Ethiopia has killed thousands and pushed hundreds of thousands to the brink of starvation, according to United Nations estimates.
On Sunday, state media reported that the army and special forces from the Afar region had taken control of the town of Shifra.
The area around Shivra has seen fierce fighting in the past few weeks, as the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) appears to be seeking to seize a major highway transporting goods to Addis Ababa.
On Monday, a source from the Tigray People’s Liberation Front questioned the government reports, saying that “fighting is already taking place”.
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