SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: Sudanow – Tale of Fashaga Border Enclave With Ethiopia

17/1/2021: Sudanow – Tale of Fashaga Border Enclave With Ethiopia

Sudanow report on accusations that the defunct Omar al-Bashir regime is responsible for the Fashaga border dispute, attributing the withdrawal of Sudanese Armed Forces in 1995 to Sudanese farmers “being left at the mercy of the Ethiopian gangs”. 

However, while local farmer Alrasheed Abdelgadir agrees that the regime’s withdrawal left Sudanese citizens “prey to lootings, thefts and forced immigration,” he rejects the term “Ethiopian gangs”.

Abdelgadir says the militants are official Ethiopian forces sent by the Ethiopian Federal Government, who are operating “a carefully designed plan to build settlements, towns and infrastructure that provide food and services free of charge to attract more people to the area.”

Osman Nafi’, Sudan’s former ambassador to Ethiopia attributed “raised Ethiopian ambitions” to al-Bashir’s regime “belittling the importance of al-Fashaga”.