All about border dispute between Ethiopia and Sudan

The immediate issue is a disputed area known as al-Fashaga, where the north-west of Ethiopia’s Amhara region meets Sudan's breadbasket Gedaref state

The armed clashes along the border between Sudan and Ethiopia are the latest twist in a decades-old history of rivalry between the two countries. The immediate issue is a disputed area known as al-Fashaga, where the north-west of Ethiopia’s Amhara region meets Sudan’s breadbasket Gedaref state. Read on about the border dispute between the two African nations…

Colonial-era treaties

Borders in the Horn of Africa are fiercely disputed. Ethiopia fought a war with Somalia in 1977 over the disputed region of the Ogaden. In 1998 it fought Eritrea over a small piece of contested land called Badme.

About 80,000 soldiers died in that war which led to deep bitterness between the countries, especially as Ethiopia refused to withdraw from Badme town even though the International Court of Justice awarded most of the territory to Eritrea. It was reoccupied by Eritrean troops during the fighting in Tigray in November 2020.

Ethiopia and Sudan share a very long boundary of 744 km in length. When Sudan was under the colonial rule of the British Empire, there was no clear border demarcation between Ethiopia and Sudan. But in the 1902 Anglo-Ethiopian Treaty, while Sudan was still under British rule, the British Empire demarcated a border by the help of Charles Gwynn, British royal engineer, without the presence of the Ethiopian Empire. Though it was not acceptable by the Ethiopian empire, the Ethio-Sudan colonial border is not clear since it mainly relies on natural landmarks such as mountains, trees, and rivers.

One of the most disputed areas is the fertile agricultural region of al-Fashaga, where Ethiopia claims the land up to the Atbarah and Tekezé River while Sudan claims the border is further east.

Peace conference

On 17 February 1972, Ethiopia hosted a peace conference in Addis Ababa, capital of Ethiopia, between South Sudan rebels and Sudan. This let the First Sudanese Civil War end, and reestablished good Ethiopia–Sudan relations.

In 1972, Sudan and Ethiopia exchanged notes concerning their boundary problems. However, “An exchange of notes between Ethiopia and Sudan failed to settle the question of the Baro salient or make arrangements to stop banditry and establish peaceful coexistence among the pastoral people.”

On 15 December 2020, this controversial border dispute caused a violent border clash in the al-Fashaga area. The border clash between Ethiopia and Sudan continued till end of 2020.

Fresh clashes

In mid-February 2021, Sudan summoned home its ambassador to Ethiopia amid an escalating dispute over a stretch of agricultural land along the two countries’ border. Both sides have accused each other of seizing territory by force.

There is now an uncomfortably high possibility of an open military conflict between the two neighbors, both of which have grappled with domestic unrest in recent months and are going through their own delicate political transitions. Such a border war would be a serious threat to regional security.

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