Ethiopia–Sudan relations

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Sudan-Ethiopia relations
Map indicating locations of Ethiopia and Sudan

Ethiopia
Sudan

Ethiopia–Sudan relations date back to antiquity.

Muslim merchants from Sudan have been an important part of Ethiopia's trade for many centuries.[1]

History

Relations between Ethiopia and Sudan have not always been cordial.[1] Military conflict broke out between Ethiopians and Sudanese in the 1850s.[1] Sudanese Mahdists, or dervishes as they also were called, then advanced into Ethiopia in 1885, resulting in a series of battles between Sudanese Muslims and Ethiopian Christians over the next four years.[1]

Relations improved during the twentieth century.

Italian occupation of Ethiopia, returned with the help of Ethiopian, British, and Sudanese forces from Sudan.[1] Relations became tense again in the late 1950s as Ethiopia supported the South Sudanese Anya Nya rebels in their battle against Khartoum.[1] Selassie, however, helped broker the 1972 Addis Ababa Agreement that ended the first civil war between North and South.[1]

Ethiopia's military government under

al-Fashaga on the border with Ethiopia respectively).[2]

Concurrently, at the urging of the United States, Ethiopia and

Blue Nile State.[1]

Ethiopia normalized relations with Sudan by the end of 1998.[1]

As of 2011, good relations between Sudan and Ethiopia continued in spite of Sudan's improved ties with Eritrea.[1] Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir visited Addis Ababa twice in 2001.[1] During a visit to Khartoum in 2002, Ethiopia's prime minister, Meles Zenawi, hailed Ethiopian–Sudanese ties.[1] The two countries agreed to cancel entry visas and fees on traded commodities, and they stepped up plans to increase trade.[1] Ethiopia began early in 2003 to import oil from Sudan.[1] By 2009 Sudan supplied 80 percent of Ethiopia's demand for oil.[1] The two nations signed an agreement ending a dispute involving their 1,600-kilometer border, and landlocked Ethiopia made plans to make greater use of Port Sudan as a transshipment point.[1] Ethiopia, Sudan, and Yemen formed a regional group early in 2003 that they said was designed to “combat terrorism” in the Horn of Africa.[1] In May 2010, Meles attended the swearing-in ceremony in Khartoum for al-Bashir following his election.[1]

Bilateral relations among countries in the Horn of Africa tended to be fickle.

Blue Nile River in Ethiopia, as it would affect the safety of the Sudanese dams, despite prospects for development in the region.[3]

Border clashes

Main article:
2020–21 Ethiopian–Sudanese clashes

On 22 December 2020,

Tigray conflict.[6]

In January 2021, tensions again spiked as Sudan accused Ethiopia of escalating the border conflict around valuable farmland in the Tigray border region.[7] These accusations come in light of Ethiopia's decision to fill the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam by July 2021, a move which Sudan claims was taken unilaterally, and which could endanger Sudan's own water systems.[8]

On Saturday 27 November 2021, six Sudanese soldiers were killed in an attack by Ethiopian forces on a Sudanese army post near the border between the countries, Sudanese military sources told Reuters. Sudan's army said in an earlier statement on Facebook that “groups of the Ethiopian army and militias attacked its forces in Al-Fashaga Al-sughra, which resulted in deaths … our forces valiantly repelled the attack and inflicted heavy losses in lives and equipment on the attackers.”[9]

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 978-0-8444-0750-0. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain. Though published in 2015, this work covers events in the whole of Sudan (including present-day South Sudan) until the 2011 secession of South Sudan.{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link
    )
  2. ^ "Sudan and Ethiopia's dispute in fertile border area threatens regional stability". Middle East Eye. 2021-07-02. Retrieved 6 August 2021.
  3. ^ "The controversy over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam". brookings.edu. 5 August 2020.
  4. ^ "Sudan condemns Ethiopia's militias aggression against Quraysha locality". Daily News Egypt. January 12, 2021. Retrieved January 17, 2021.
  5. ^ Samir, Mohamed (December 16, 2020). "Sudan says troops killed by Ethiopian forces in cross-border attack". Daily News Egypt. Retrieved January 17, 2021.
  6. ^ "Sudan, Ethiopia hold border talks; area near Tigray contested". Al Jazeera. December 22, 2020. Retrieved December 22, 2020.
  7. ^ "Sudan warns Ethiopia against provoking a war that threatens regional stability". Arab News. 16 Feb 2021.
  8. ^ Abdelaziz, Khalid (6 Feb 2021). "Filling Ethiopia's Renaissance Dam in July threatens Sudan's security - minister". Reuters.
  9. ^ "Six Sudanese soldiers killed in Ethiopian attack, Sudan military says | National Post".
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