Renson Mwakandana
The Ethiopian military, according to Sudan, “executed” seven of its prisoner troops and a civilian.
Sudan’s army claimed it was outraged by the decision to display the dead in public and threatened to retaliate in a statement on Monday.
“This treacherous action will not go unanswered, and [we] will respond to this cowardly behavior,” the statement reads.
The act “contravenes all laws and customs of war and international humanitarian law,” according to the Sudanese army. The spokesperson for the Sudanese army, Brig-Gen Nabil Abdullah, said that the Ethiopian army behaved “with all contempt.”
Ethiopia has not yet responded.
Lt. Gen. Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, the head of Sudan’s junta, paid a visit to the border region of Al-Asira in Gedaref state’s southeast, where it is said that the soldiers and a civilian were kidnapped. He was joined by a few military officials.
According to reports, the troops were stationed there keeping watch throughout the planting season. In the rich, permeable border region that is claimed by the two neighboring countries, farmers and pastoralists frequently conflict.
War broke out in November 2020 in the Tigray area of northern Ethiopia, escalating tensions, deteriorating ties, and sending a wave of migrants into Sudan.
Since then, Khartoum and Addis Ababa have been engaged in a violent verbal battle, exchanging charges of violence and territorial aggression.
Further tensions in the area, such as those around Ethiopia’s contentious Blue Nile dam, are fueled by the boundary issue.
The Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam has been opposed by Sudan and Egypt, two downstream nations, and they are working to reach an agreement about the reservoir’s filling and the dam’s operation.
