Hundreds of Sudanese farmers return to Al-Fashaga area

July 18, 2021 (WAD KOLI) – The government of Gedaref State in eastern Sudan announced the return of hundreds of families and local residents to cultivate their lands in the Al-Fashaga area for the first time in 25 years.

Ethiopian farmers backed by their militiamen gradually occupied the border fertile area since the beginning of the nineties of the last century, until the size of the occupation reached one million acres.

The Governor of Gedaref, Suleiman Ali, said that his government launched today, “Sunday”, the cultivation of the recovered lands in the Wad Koli locality, which was under total control of Ethiopian militiamen before its recapture by the Sudanese army in November 2020

Ali said that 2,400 families will benefit from his government’s support plan to develop the border strip and areas recovered in Al-Fashqa.

He further stated that the state government will pay for the land ploughing machines and will provide the farmers with 10 machines that will cost 114 million Sudanese pounds.

The Sudanese government launched a series of projects to build roads and infrastructures in the Al-Fashaga area to encourage the return of the farmers chased by the Ethiopian militias as the former regime turned a blind eye.

Also, the army deployed troops on the border area to protect them from the repeated attacks by the Ethiopian militiamen who cross the border from time to time to aggress the Sudanese farmers.

(ST)