Ethiopia and Sudan closed each other’s consulates near their shared border, officials from the two countries said on Wednesday, marking a further deterioration in relations over allegations each side is supporting the other’s enemies.
Axar.az reports, citing Reuters, 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.
Ethiopia closed the Sudanese consulate in the border town of Assosa and ordered the six diplomats there to leave within 48 hours, a senior Ethiopian official told Reuters, without providing a reason for the decision.
Sudan’s government then closed the Ethiopian consulate in the eastern Sudanese city of Gedaref and expelled the diplomats working there, two Sudanese officials told Reuters.
Source: en.axar.az
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