Ethiopian “Shifta” Militia Attacks and Loots 3 Sudanese Border Villages
Sudan Events – Agencies
Farmers and resistance committees in Sudan’s eastern Gedaref State, which borders Ethiopia, reported on Monday that Ethiopian militias known as “Shifta” crossed the border and attacked the villages of Barka Noreen, Wad Aroud, and Wad Koli, looting livestock and citizens’ property.
The Shifta are armed groups from Ethiopia’s Amhara ethnic group. They have seized control of hundreds of hectares within the disputed Al-Fashaga Triangle, located in Sudan’s Gedaref State, through raids and abductions targeting Sudanese farmers.
The Al-Fashaga Triangle is a vast expanse of fertile land, covering approximately 1.2 million hectares, and has been a source of dispute between Sudan and Ethiopia for decades, with tensions periodically flaring up. The area borders Ethiopia’s Tigray Region, which recently witnessed a civil war that left at least 600,000 dead.
A resident of Wad Koli village, located 11 kilometers from the Ethiopian border, a 29-year-old farmer, told AFP: “Yesterday, while we were working on our farm, the Ethiopian Shifta arrived, surrounded the village, opened fire, and looted cattle and tractors at gunpoint.”
Another resident from Wad Aroud, a 32-year-old man, said: “We were farming when we heard gunfire. We rushed back fearing for our families. When we arrived, we found that the Shifta had stolen cows and sheep from the village and crossed back into Ethiopia.”
According to the local resistance committee, the attacks also targeted several other villages in Gedaref State. However, there were no immediate reports of casualties in the attacks on Wad Koli, Wad Aroud, and Barka Noreen.
The assaults occurred at the beginning of the rainy season and planting period, while Sudan has been engulfed in a civil war since April 2023 between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), resulting in thousands of deaths.
Residents said the attacks disrupted agricultural activity during the main planting season, which lasts from July to September.
According to UN reports, nearly 25 million people in Sudan face acute food insecurity—the country is currently experiencing the world’s worst humanitarian crisis due to the ongoing conflict between the army and RSF.
Although Sudan considers the Al-Fashaga Triangle an integral part of its territory—based on the 1902 boundary demarcation between the British Crown (then ruling Sudan) and Ethiopian Emperor Menelik II—the area has long been a hotspot for smuggling and border tensions, largely due to the absence of clearly marked boundary lines.
Over the years, thousands of Ethiopian refugees and farmers have crossed this porous border into Sudan. Today, hundreds of Ethiopian farmers still reside there, despite the area being officially within Sudanese territory.
Source: Al Jazeera + AFP
