Report: Sudan, Ethiopia Border Dispute Raises Fears of Wider Conflict

Analysts say the decades-long border dispute over fertile farmland between Sudan and Ethiopia is fueling regional rivalry, and even raising fears of a wider conflict, according to a report published by AFP.

The land dispute also comes amid an unrest in Ethiopia's Tigray region, with more than 60,000 Ethiopian refugees fleeing into Sudan.

The border dispute revolves around Ethiopian farmers cultivating land claimed by Sudan, which fueling broader tensions over The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance dam (GERD), which Khartoum and Cairo, as down stream countries, see as a threat to the water needs.

Fashqiya, 12,000 square kilometers, is an agricultural region confined between the Amhara and Tigray regions with Gedaref in eastern Sudan.

According to the treaty of 1902 to 1907, the land belongs to Sudan, but, on the ground, thousands of Ethiopian farmers have entered to cultivate during the rainy season.

Since 1995, thousands of Ethiopian farmers have settled in the area, cultivating land for the Ethiopian authorities..

Sudanese official media reported that, with the approaching violence in Ethiopia, Khartoum sent forces to the Fasheqa area "to reclaim the stolen lands and take up positions on international lines."

In December, Khartoum sent reinforcements to Al Fasheqa after "Ethiopian forces and militias" ambushed Sudanese forces, killing at least four.

Sudan has claimed in recent weeks that it has regained control of large swathes of the region, and has insisted that it has always been located within its borders.

Aside from Tigray, Ethiopia faces internal unrest including in the Benishangul-Gumuz, which historically belongs to Sudan.

Border tensions have strained relations between Khartoum and Addis Ababa, which, along with Egypt, failed to conclude an agreement on filling and operating GERD.

Both Sudan and Egypt view the dam as a threat to its dams and water resources. Egypt, which relies on the Nile for about 97 percent of its irrigation and drinking water, sees the dam as an existential threat.

This month the Egyptian and Sudanese military officials signed a bilateral military cooperation agreement.

Meantime, Washington has decided to extend the suspension of assistance to Ethiopia for most programs in the security sector for violating human rights in Tigray, the US State Department said on Friday, days after US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken warned from ethnic cleansing in the province.