Ethiopian Militias Attack Sudanese Border Villages

 

Farmers and resistance committees in Sudan’s Al-Gadarif State, which borders Ethiopia, announced on Monday that Ethiopian militias known as “Shifta” crossed the border between the two countries and attacked the villages of Baraka Noreen, Wad Arod, and Wad Koli, looting animal resources and civilian property.

 

 

The Fashaga Triangle border area, a vast area of fertile land covering approximately 1.2 million hectares, has been the subject of a decades-long dispute between Sudan and Ethiopia, with tensions flaring up occasionally, according to Agence France-Presse.

 

 

 

The attacks occurred at the beginning of the rainy and agricultural season, while Sudan has been embroiled in a civil war between the army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) since April 2023, resulting in thousands of deaths.

 

 

A 29-year-old resident of Wad Koli village, 11 km from the Ethiopian border, who works as a farmer, said, “Yesterday, while we were farming, the Ethiopian Shifta arrived and surrounded the village, opened fire, and pillaged cows and tractors at gunpoint.”

 

 

A 32-year-old resident of Wad Arod, a border village, said, “We were farming when we heard the gunfire. We quickly returned, fearing for our families. When we arrived, we found the Shifta had looted cows and sheep from the village and entered Ethiopia.”

 

 

 

According to the local resistance committee, the attacks targeted several other villages in Al-Gadarif State.

 

 

There were no immediate reports of casualties from the attacks on Wad Koli, Wad Arod, and Barakat Nourein.

 

 

These attacks came at a critical time, with the beginning of autumn, as Sudanese farmers prepare for the agricultural season, making them particularly impactful for food security and the livelihoods of the people in the area.

 

 

According to residents, the attacks have prevented cultivation of land during the main rainy season, which runs from July to September.