Ethiopian militias making new incursions on Sudan border, official says

July 4, 2025 (GEDAREF) – Ethiopian militias backed by their country’s army have made new incursions into fertile Sudanese farmland, blocking local farmers from their fields and exploiting a security vacuum caused by Sudan’s internal war, a senior Sudanese official said on Friday.

The disputed border area, known as Al-Fashqa, has long been a source of tension between the two nations. The development threatens to further destabilize a region where the Sudanese army has redeployed forces to fight in a year-long civil war.

“There is a new incursion by Ethiopian militias into the same lands that were previously recovered by the army,” Mubarak Al-Nour, vice president of the Eastern Sudan Coordination Committee, told the Sudan Tribune news outlet.

Al-Nour, a former parliamentarian for the region, said Ethiopian farmers were actively clearing land under the protection of the Ethiopian army after expelling their Sudanese counterparts. He warned the moves coincide with the start of the rainy season and could jeopardize the area’s agricultural output.

In 2020, Sudan’s army reclaimed large swathes of Al-Fashqa, which it said had been occupied and settled by Ethiopian farmers for over two decades. However, Sudanese military positions have since been vacated as troops were relocated to the country’s main battle fronts.

Al-Nour called on Sudan’s Sovereign Council and military to take “necessary measures” to protect the border and re-establish state control.

The report of incursions adds to growing insecurity in the border region. On Wednesday, traders in the border town of Al-Qalabat said an armed Ethiopian group crossed into Sudan, looted a livestock market, and fled back across the border.