A Sudanese soldier has been killed in clashes with Ethiopian militias in the border area of Basanda, eastern Sudan.
Sudan’s military sources said that the country’s armed forces confronted Ethiopian militias and other forces during combing operations carried out inside Sudanese territory on Friday. The moves resulted in the killing of a Sudanese soldier.
Military sources indicated that the heavily armed Ethiopian militias cultivated Sudanese lands, but that Sudanese army confronted them and cut off the road in front of them,
The sources reported that the Sudanese army’s operations were in the areas of Umm Dablo, Hasknit, and Khor Sanat near Jabal Abu Rangul in the border locality of Basanda in the state of Gedaref.
The sources confirmed the deployment of Ethiopian military reinforcements from the Amhara region, parallel to the Sudanese state of Gedaref, towards agricultural lands. These are located near Sudanese agricultural projects, with the deployment prompting the Sudanese army to deploy similar reinforcements in border areas.
The borders between Sudan and Ethiopia have witnessed military tension since last November, when the former’s army redeployed its forces in the Al-Fashqa area. They recovered large areas of agricultural land that Ethiopian groups had been cultivating under the protection of the militias for more than 25 years.
It is noteworthy that Sudan had previously announced the redeployment process and its success in recovering 95% of its lands that were under the control of the Ethiopian militias, and which Addis Ababa refuses to recognise.
For its part, Ethiopia accuses the Sudanese armed forces of inflaming the situation along the borders through incursions into its areas and occupying its agricultural lands. It has also demanded that Khartoum return to the situation last November.
