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Sudan Accuses Ethiopia of Escalating Tensions Over Disputed Territory

Naba Mohiedeen

   KHARTOUM - Tensions between Sudan and Ethiopia over a contested border
   area rose this week, as Sudan accused its neighbor of sending military
   planes over its airspace.

   Sudan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs says Ethiopian military warplanes
   crossed into Sudanese airspace this week in a "dangerous and
   unjustified escalation" of tensions over the disputed al-Fashaga area.

   Sudan also says armed Ethiopian gangs, backed by the government, killed
   at least eight civilians in Wad A'arood and al-Liya villages along the
   border.

   The head of the Sudanese military, Lieutenant General Abdel-Fattah
   al-Burhan, visited the area and talked to the Sudanese troops guarding
   the borders.

   Al-Burhan says Sudan has been patient about this land for so long, for
   25 years of offenses and threats and accusations, but everything has a
   limit. He says Sudan didn't start the conflict, Ethiopia did, and now
   its eye for an eye. He says they killed Sudanese women and killed our
   farmers and burnt the lands before, and they claimed that it's not
   Sudanese land and accused Sudan of entering their lands.

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