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Sudan Closes Ethiopia Border Until Tigray Tensions Subside

Michael Atit

   KHARTOUM - Officials in Sudan's Kassala state have closed the border
   with neighboring Ethiopia because of stepped-up tensions in Ethiopia's
   Tigray region over the past few days.

   Fathal-Rahman Al-Amin, the acting governor for Kassala state, said the
   border will remain closed until hostilities have subsided in Ethiopia's
   Tigray region, which is a few kilometers from Kassala.

   On Friday, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced the military
   carried out a series of airstrikes against regional security forces in
   the northern Tigray region that destroyed rockets and other heavy
   artillery.

   The government "has been forced to take rule of law enforcement
   measures to effectively respond to the unceasing belligerence
   perpetrated by the TPLF (Tigray People's Liberation Front) clique in
   violation" of the constitution, Abiy said in a statement last week,
   which initiated a six-month state of emergency.

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