Ethiopia accuses Sudan of killing civilians amid border dispute

Ethiopia has accused Sudanese forces of killing "many civilians" amid ongoing clashes over disputed land along both countries' borders.

"Many civilians have been murdered or wounded," a spokesperson for the Ethiopian foreign ministry said this week.

Spokesman Dina Mufti described Sudanese forces as launching raids from across the border with machine guns and armoured convoys.

Ethiopian farms in the disputed Al-Fashqa region have also had their properties looted, Mufti was quoted as saying by Bloomberg.

Sudanese and Ethiopian forces have been embroiled in clashes over the fertile border land for weeks.

Tensions between the neighbouring countries have skyrocketed since conflict erupted in Ethiopia's northern Tigray region in November.

When Ethiopian troops left the border region to fight in Tigray, both Sudanese forces and Ethiopian ethnic Amhara militias mobilised in Al-Fashqa as a stand-off developed on the border.

Amhara state claims parts of Al-Fashqa that are located inside Sudan's borders, while Khartoum says the land falls squarely within its territory under colonial-era treaties dating back to 1902.

Sudan has historically allowed Amhara farmers to live and work in the area as long as they pay taxes to Khartoum, with Ethiopia recognising the land as Sudanese.

Both sides met last month to discuss Al-Fashqa but the talks did not result in a conclusion.

Sudan has since captured most of the disputed border area, Foreign Minister Omar Qamar al-Din said last week.

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