SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: BBC – Viewpoint: Why Ethiopia and Sudan have fallen out over al-Fashaga

3/1/2021: BBC – Viewpoint: Why Ethiopia and Sudan have fallen out over al-Fashaga, by Alex de Waal

Africa analyst Alex de Waal explains the roots of the Sudan-Ethiopia fall-out over al-Fashaga, where the north-west of Ethiopia's Amhara region meets Sudan's al-Gadarif.

De Waal notes that in 2008, Ethiopia acknowledged that the land belongs to Sudan, but Sudan permitted Ethiopians to continue living there and paying taxes to Ethiopian authorities. However, ethnic Amhara leaders condemned the deal. 

 The Ethiopians who inhabit Fashaga are ethnic Amhara - a constituency that Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed is “increasingly hitched his political wagon to after losing significant support in his Oromo ethnic group,” the largest in Ethiopia, with the Amharas being the second largest group in Ethiopia and “its historic rulers.”

De Waal also notes Sudan and Ethiopia’s history of “mutual destabilisation” and Sudan taking Egypt’s side in the Nile waters dispute.