Sudan claims an Ethiopian military plane breached the Sudanese airspace, raising tensions between the two neighbouring African countries that are embroiled in a territorial dispute.
Sudan’s Foreign Ministry said Wednesday in a statement on Twitter, that the move is a “dangerous and unjustified” escalation. Ethiopia’s army spokesman and the office of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed didn’t respond to calls seeking comment.
This accusation is the latest in a series Sudan has traded with Ethiopia as both countries have had deadly clashes occur around al-Fashqa, an area of fertile farming land where their mutual border meets. The area has witnessed escalating tensions since a conflict erupted in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region in early November.
On Tuesday last week, Ethiopia said Sudanese forces killed “many civilians” during incursions in the same area of dispute.
On its Facebook page, the army said the head of Sudan’s sovereign council, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, visited the border area on Wednesday. The nation’s Foreign Ministry warned that any further violation of its airspace could have “dangerous repercussions,” including on “security and stability in the Horn of Africa.”
Both Sudan and Ethiopia are at the moment trying to resolve a dispute over the pace at which Ethiopia fills a giant hydropower dam on a Nile River tributary.
On Wednesday, the Sudanese government-owned news agency SUNA reported the crash-landing of a military helicopter at an airport in Gedaref, a state on Sudan’s eastern border with Ethiopia, with all three-crew surviving. The cause of the crash or further details concerning the crash were not given.