Sudanese authorities reported that at least 20 military troops died after encountering Ethiopian forces in an ambush on the two countries' shared border, forcing survivors into the riverbank while waiting for support.
The incident occurred on Saturday when Sudanese soldiers were traveling across the Atbara river and were suddenly bombarded by Ethiopian troops. The surviving Sudanese troops have not started to gather on the riverbank and a member of the border commission of Sudan's southeastern Gadaref state, Alrasheed Ali, said that the situation was "very tense."
Ethiopian Ambush
During the phone call on Sunday, Ali did not reveal further information regarding the fatalities among the Ethiopian forces. In a released statement on Saturday, the Sudanese army said that it delivered "heavy losses of life" against the Ethiopian group who assaulted their personnel.
While the Sudanese army reported it also suffered casualties on its side, it did not reveal exactly how many lives were lost to the Ethiopian ambush. The deadly encounter between the two nations' troops occurred more than a year after the start of the conflict in al-Fashqa, The Hill reported.
The area is a border zone that has long been cultivated by Ethiopian farmers as claimed by Sudanese officials. The zone also borders Ethiopia's troubled Tigray region, which has been the location for multiple deadly clashes between the two forces in recent years, a situation that escalated last year.
In November 2020, fighting erupted in Tigray, raising tensions between the two sides after it sent tens of thousands of refugees fleeing into Sudan. Authorities from Khartoum and Addis Ababa have since been locked in a tense war of words over the region, accusing each other of being responsible for the violence and territorial violations.
The dispute over the border has caused tensions between the two sides to rise, including the controversy over Ethiopia's Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam that is located on the Blue Nile. Sudan and Egypt have been part of the decades-long dispute over the dam, Aljazeera reported.
Government Overhaul
The situation comes after Sudan's military leader replaced the majority of top intelligence personnel, removing at least eight general intelligence officers. Sovereign Council head Abdel Fattah al-Burhan also replaced the head of military intelligence.
Burhan's decision comes after a week since he struck a deal to reinstate Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, who was previously placed under house arrest after the Oct. 25 coup. Five of the dismissed officers were in senior positions and have been in their work since before the 2019 coup against autocrat Omar al-Bashir.
On Saturday, official sources revealed that Burhan had also replaced the head of the general intelligence service. However, it was not immediately known what impacts Burhan's decisions have on the balance of power since Hamdok has returned to his position.
On Saturday, Hamdok replaced the country's top two police officials after deadly, violent attacks against anti-military protesters in recent weeks. Before the anti-government coup, the military shared authority and power with civilian groups that were part of an uprising against Bashir, the majority of which were against the deal between Burhan and Hamdok, Reuters reported.
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