Nov 4 (Reuters) – Ethiopia has ordered six Sudanese diplomats to leave the country, a senior Ethiopian official said on Wednesday, marking a further deterioration in relations between the two sides over allegations each is supporting the other’s enemies.
Sudan accuses Ethiopia of supporting the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, while Ethiopia accuses Sudan of backing rebels in its northern Tigray region.
The allegations and counter-allegations, which both sides deny, have raised fears that the two wars could bleed into each other, spawning a broader conflict in the Horn of Africa.
On Sunday, Sudan’s government said it had lodged a complaint against Ethiopia with the United Nations Security Council and the African Union’s Peace and Security Council, accusing Ethiopia of allowing the RSF to use its territory to launch suicide drones against civilian infrastructure in Sudan.
The spokesperson for the Ethiopian prime minister’s office did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Ethiopia ordered six staff members of the Sudanese consulate in the border town of Assosa to leave within 48 hours, the senior Ethiopian official said, without providing a reason for the decision.
The official asked not to be named to discuss a sensitive diplomatic matter.
Addis Ababa denies it supports the RSF in Sudan’s civil war. The conflict has displaced more than 14 million people, according to UN figures, and created one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises since it erupted in April 2023.
Ethiopia has accused Sudan, Egypt and Eritrea of supporting Tigrayan rebels who launched an offensive against government forces in September. All three countries have denied this.
“The Sudanese government remains committed to its right to defend its territory. Nevertheless, it is making every possible effort to avoid an open war with Ethiopia,” Amjad Farid, political and foreign affairs adviser for Sudan’s Transitional Sovereign Council, said.
(Reporting by Nairobi Newsroom, additional reporting by Khalid Abdelaziz; Editing by Aaron Ross and Sharon Singleton)
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