Sudan should withdraw its troops from a disputed territory near the common border with Ethiopia ahead of proposed talks, the Foreign Affairs ministry in Addis Ababa has said.
Dina Mufti, a spokesperson of the ministry told journalists on Tuesday that “the leaders of Sudan are beating war drums as the Sudanese army continues looting and displacing Ethiopian farmers.”
According to the Mufti, Ethiopia still believes that the issue can be resolved amicably through talks.
However, he said “before the commencement of any negotiation, Ethiopia is demanding Sudan to evacuate its troops from the areas they have been occupying since November 6, 2020″
He claimed that Ethiopian farmers have been uprooted from their areas as a result of the alleged occupation.
Tensions between Addis Ababa and Khartoum reportedly continued to escalate on Tuesday after the Sudanese military allegedly advanced to the west of Ethiopia’s Gondar region near the border.
The border area has been disputed for more than a century, with a number of failed attempts to reach an agreement on exactly where the demarcation line should be.
Treaties were drawn up in 1902 and 1907 between Ethiopia and Britain to define the border.
But Ethiopia has long claimed that parts of the land given to Sudan actually belongs to it.
The border tensions come at a time when Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt are also trying to resolve a three-way row over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam being built on the River Nile.
MG/as/APA