Sudan calls back ambassador to Ethiopia over abduction, killing of 7 soldiers, civilian

CAIRO – 27 June 2022: The Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced Monday that it is calling back its ambassador to Ethiopia over the latter's "public execution" of seven Sudanese soldiers and a civilian that it had kidnapped on June 22, 2022.

The ministry added that it would also call a meeting with the Ethiopian ambassador to Khartoum to protest the "outrageous crime that violates all the principles of international humanitarian law," the press statement indicated.

The Sudanese foreign ministry further revealed that the bodies had been disfigured, and that a complaint had been submitted to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) among other international and regional organizations.

"The ministry would like to highlight that Sudan hosts more than two million Ethiopians, who get a decent treatment and share with the Sudanese people their resources and living in generosity and tolerance," the statement read.  

The ministry also reiterated its right, granted through the Charter of the United Nations, in defending its territories.  

In May 2021, the Sudanese and Ethiopian armies engaged Wednesday in military clash using heavy weapons in Bashenda border area.

In February of the same year, the Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that Sudan did not accept any mediation in the then ongoing conflict with Ethiopia over borders at that stage.  

The ministry stipulated that Ethiopia eyes occupying Sudanese lands saying that deploying the Sudanese Army in Al Fashaqa district is final and shall not be revisited. Further, the ministry added that if Ethiopia thinks it has rights in Al Fashaqa, it can resort to law.

Sudan had summoned its ambassador to Addis Ababa to consult over the border issue as the district is experiencing escalating tensions that resulted in the death of dozens on both sides.

Some Ethiopian groups used to cultivate lands in Sudan's Al Fashqa region for decades, which was tolerated by overthrown leader Omar al-Bashir but is no longer accepted by the transitional government. The area spanning over 250 square kilometers had been experiencing deadly clashes, and armed attacks by Ethiopian militias.

It is noted that 50,000 out of 950,000 displaced Ethiopians fled to Sudan because of the fighting initiated by the Ethiopian federal government against the Tigray region.