Call to expedite demarcation of Sudan-Ethiopia border

The citizens of El Fashaga in El Gadaref Locality have demanded the re-demarcation of the Sudan-Ethiopia border and the return of the agricultural lands occupied by Ethiopians to their rightful owners.

Mubarak El Nur, the independent MP of El Fashaga constituency of El Gedaref state, told Radio Dabanga that the farmers of the border areas adjacent to Ethiopia suffer harsh living conditions owing to the Ethiopians seizing their farms.

He has called on the government to speed up the demarcation of the border because the slowdown in the demarcation will prolong the suffering of farmers and give an opportunity to the Ethiopians to further expand in the region.

In November 2015, Radio Dabanga reported that more than 50 villages and a million acres of farmland in the eastern localities of El Gedaref state have been occupied by Ethiopian militiamen.

El Gedaref and the southern Blue Nile state border the Ethiopian Amhara region.

In July, large numbers of Ethiopian gunmen occupied farms in El Quresha locality. Three Sudanese farmers were killed and five were wounded In the ensuing shooting. Both governments agreed more than once in the past to redraw the borders, drawn by the British and Italian colonisers in 1908. However, the talks were postponed over and over again. Moreover, Ethiopian opposition groups accuse Addis Ababa of ceding Ethiopian territory to Sudan.

In December 2013, the joint Sudanese-Ethiopian High Committee announced that it reached an agreement to end disputes between farmers from two sides of the border over the ownership of agricultural land, particularly in El Fashaga.

El Fashaga covers an area of about 250 square kilometres, including 600.000 acres of fertile lands, irrigated by the Atbara, Seteit, and Baslam rivers flowing across the state.