African Union calls for restraint over Ethiopia-Sudan territorial dispute

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AA) – The chairperson of the African Union Commission on Wednesday called on both Sudan and Ethiopia to refrain from military escalation over the al-Fashqa border area.

Al Fashqa, a northern border triangle between Ethiopia, Sudan and Eritrea, has been a disputed territory for over a decade between Sudan and Ethiopia.

An African Union press release said Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat was “following with deep concern the escalating military tension” between the two neighboring countries.

The chairperson “calls for dialogue between the two brotherly countries to solve any dispute,” the release said.

He notes that the recent “border skirmishes should not scuttle the diplomatic solutions being sought to resolve ongoing internal challenges in the two member states,” it added.

He urged both countries to “continue to contribute to a peaceful resolution of the border dispute under the auspices of the AU Border Program.”

The two Eastern African nations share a 1,600-kilometer-long boundary that has never been clearly demarcated, causing intermittent confrontations.

A June 22 incident at the contested area in which seven Sudanese soldiers and one civilian were killed caused the latest escalation, with the two countries trading blames for the incident.

Sudan claimed that the soldiers who were captives were executed by the Ethiopian army, while Ethiopia alleged that the incident was a result of skirmishes between the Sudanese army and the Ethiopian local militia on the Ethiopian side of the border.

While Sudan says it controls the ‘Sudanese territory’ where Ethiopian militias were present, Ethiopia accuses the Sudanese army of controlling what it considers an ‘Ethiopian region’.