Saturday, July 5, 2025 – HAN
Khartoum – Ethiopian militias, reportedly backed by their national army, have launched fresh incursions into the disputed Al-Fashqa border region, occupying fertile Sudanese farmland and displacing local farmers, a senior Sudanese official said on Friday.
Mubarak Al-Nour, Vice President of the Eastern Sudan Coordination Committee, told Sudan Tribune that Ethiopian farmers, under the protection of military forces, have resumed clearing land that had previously been reclaimed by Sudan’s army. The latest incursion, he said, comes as the rainy season begins, raising concerns about the impact on agricultural productivity in the region.
“There is a new incursion by Ethiopian militias into the same lands that were previously recovered by the army,” said Al-Nour, a former member of parliament for the region. “Sudanese farmers have been expelled and replaced by Ethiopians under army protection.”
The Al-Fashqa region, located along the volatile Sudan-Ethiopia border, has long been a flashpoint between the two countries. Tensions escalated in 2020 when Sudan’s military retook large parts of the area, claiming it had been under illegal occupation by Ethiopian settlers for over two decades. However, in recent months, many of those military positions have reportedly been vacated as Sudan redeploys forces to confront internal conflicts elsewhere in the country.
Al-Nour urged Sudan’s Sovereign Council and military leadership to intervene swiftly, calling for urgent measures to secure the border and reassert state control.
The latest reports of militia activity have fueled growing concerns about insecurity in the region. Just days earlier, on Wednesday, traders in the border town of Al-Qalabat said an armed Ethiopian group raided a livestock market in Sudanese territory before retreating across the border.
The renewed tensions threaten to further destabilize eastern Sudan, which has seen a surge in lawlessness amid the broader national conflict that erupted last year.
