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KHARTOUM – Officials from the state of Kassala in Sudan have closed the border with neighboring Ethiopia due to rising tensions in Ethiopia’s Tigray region in recent days.
Fathal-Rahman Al-Amin, the acting governor of Kassala state, said the border will remain closed until hostilities cease in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, which is located a few kilometers from Kassala.
On Friday, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced that the army carried out a series of airstrikes against regional security forces in the northern Tigray region that destroyed rockets and other heavy artillery.
The government “has been forced to take law enforcement measures to effectively respond to the relentless belligerence perpetrated by the TPLF (Tigray People’s Liberation Front) clique in violation” of the constitution, Abiy said in a communicated last week, which began a six-month state of emergency.
Al-Amin said Kassala state officials formed a local committee to monitor the Wed Al-Helio crossing point on the Sudan-Ethiopia border and said the Sudanese authorities would help to receive civilians who may be fleeing the violence in Ethiopia.
Kassala officials will not allow any group to enter Sudan and turn Sudanese territory into a battlefield, Al-Amin said.
“We will not allow anyone carrying weapons to enter Kassala. But those who are unarmed, we have a local committee that will assist them immediately at the Wed Al-Helio border crossing, ”he said.
Clashes broke out between the government and the TPLF in Tigray last Wednesday after Abiy accused area leaders of attacking government military bases and attempting to steal artillery and equipment. The two sides were part of a governing coalition that ruled the country until 2018, when Abiy took power.
On Thursday, Birhanu Jula, deputy chief of the Ethiopian National Defense Force, said that more government troops were being sent to the area and declared that Ethiopia had entered an “unexpected war” in Tigray.
Following the events of last week, Al-Amin ordered Sudan’s security organizations, including the Sudanese Armed Forces, to be vigilant along the Sudan-Ethiopia border.
“We don’t want to see any kind of illegal gatherings. We will not allow anyone, any group or people carrying weapons who have caused insecurity in their country to enter Kassala. All of these will be arranged for our safety. Our border is officially closed as of today until an unknown date, ”Al-Amin said.
Eyewitnesses in Kassala say there is a heavy deployment of the Sudanese armed forces in the city. They also said that Rapid Support Forces, a Sudanese paramilitary group, were heading towards the border with Ethiopia on Sunday night.
