Sudan Says Back in Full Control of Border With Ethiopia

In this June 22, 2019 file photo, a Sudanese soldier from the Rapid Support Forces or RSF, led by Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, stands on his vehicle during a military-backed tribe's rally, in the East Nile province, Sudan. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla, File)
In this June 22, 2019 file photo, a Sudanese soldier from the Rapid Support Forces or RSF, led by Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, stands on his vehicle during a military-backed tribe's rally, in the East Nile province, Sudan. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla, File)
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Sudan Says Back in Full Control of Border With Ethiopia

In this June 22, 2019 file photo, a Sudanese soldier from the Rapid Support Forces or RSF, led by Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, stands on his vehicle during a military-backed tribe's rally, in the East Nile province, Sudan. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla, File)
In this June 22, 2019 file photo, a Sudanese soldier from the Rapid Support Forces or RSF, led by Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, stands on his vehicle during a military-backed tribe's rally, in the East Nile province, Sudan. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla, File)

Sudan’s foreign minister said Thursday that the army has restored control over all lands along the border that had been taken over by Ethiopian farmers.

“The armed forces have now fully recovered all Sudanese territory,” minister Omar Qamareddine told a Khartoum press conference.

“The borders have already been demarcated, all that’s remaining in our talks ... is increasing the border signs,” Qamareddine said.

Tensions have flared between the two countries over the Al-Fashqa region of the border, where Ethiopian farmers have been cultivating fertile land which is claimed by Sudan.

The region has seen sporadic clashes over the years but new fighting erupted in November when the federal government sent troops into the neighboring Tigray region of Ethiopia against the regional authorities.

Some 50,000 Ethiopian refugees poured across the border to escape the fighting.

Earlier this month, Khartoum accused Ethiopian “forces and militias” of ambushing Sudanese troops along the border, leaving some four dead and more than 20 wounded.

Addis Ababa downplayed the reported ambush, saying it did not threaten the relationship between the two countries.

Sudan has since deployed troops to the border region, and held demarcation talks with its eastern neighbor, AFP reported.

Ethiopia’s foreign ministry spokesperson Dina Mufti blamed “outside forces” for the tensions with Sudan.

She said in a Wednesday briefing that these forces hold “no care for both Ethiopian and Sudanese people, but want the region to be in chaos and want to benefit from that chaos.”

In the same context, Chairman of Sudan's Sovereign Council Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan on Thursday said the Sudanese army has not gone beyond the international border with Ethiopia or attacked it.

"What is happening at the eastern region adjacent to our border with Ethiopia is redeployment of the Sudanese armed forces within their territory," said Al-Burhan in a speech to the Sudanese people on the 65th anniversary of Sudan's Independence.

"The Sudanese Armed Forces have not and will not go beyond the international borders or attack neighboring Ethiopia," noted Al-Burhan.

He went on saying that "We have been and are still keen to address the issue of violations by Ethiopian farmers and those who back them on Sudanese lands through dialogue."

Al-Burhan further noted that joint mechanisms have been formed for this matter considering the historical and special relations between the Sudanese and Ethiopian peoples.

He stressed that dialogue and negotiation will remain the guiding approach until everyone gets his right.



Gaza's Christians 'Heartbroken' for Pope Who Phoned them Nightly

A Palestinian woman walks outside the Holy Family Church after the death of Pope Francis was announced by the Vatican, in Gaza City April 21, 2025. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
A Palestinian woman walks outside the Holy Family Church after the death of Pope Francis was announced by the Vatican, in Gaza City April 21, 2025. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
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Gaza's Christians 'Heartbroken' for Pope Who Phoned them Nightly

A Palestinian woman walks outside the Holy Family Church after the death of Pope Francis was announced by the Vatican, in Gaza City April 21, 2025. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
A Palestinian woman walks outside the Holy Family Church after the death of Pope Francis was announced by the Vatican, in Gaza City April 21, 2025. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas

Members of Gaza's tiny Christian community said they were "heartbroken" on Monday at the death of Pope Francis, who campaigned for peace for the devastated enclave and spoke to them on the phone every evening throughout the war.

Across the wider Middle East, Palestinian, Lebanese and Syrian Christians, both Catholic and Orthodox, praised Francis' constant engagement with them as a source of solace at a time when their communities faced wars, disasters, hardship and persecution.

"We lost a saint who taught us every day how to be brave, how to keep patient and stay strong. We lost a man who fought every day in every direction to protect this small herd of his," George Antone, 44, head of the emergency committee at the Holy Family Church in Gaza, told Reuters.

Francis called the church hours after the war in Gaza began in October 2023, Antone said, the start of what the Vatican News Service would describe as a nightly routine throughout the war. He would make sure to speak not only to the priest but to everyone else in the room, Antone said.

"We are heartbroken because of the death of Pope Francis, but we know that he is leaving behind a church that cares for us and that knows us by name - every single one of us," Antone said, referring to the Christians of Gaza who number in the hundreds.

"He used to tell each one: I am with you, don't be afraid."

Francis phoned a final time on Saturday night, the pastor of the Holy Family parish, Rev. Gabriel Romanelli, told the Vatican News Service.

"He said he was praying for us, he blessed us, and he thanked us for our prayers," Romanelli said.

The next day, in his last public statement on Easter, Francis appealed for peace in Gaza, telling the warring parties to "call a ceasefire, release the hostages and come to the aid of a starving people that aspires to a future of peace".

'PEACE IN THIS LAND'

At the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, on the site where many Christians believe Jesus was crucified, buried and resurrected, the superior of the Latin community, Father Stephane Milovitch, said Francis had stood for peace.

"We wish that peace will finally come very soon in this land and we wish the next pope will be able to help to have peace in Jerusalem and in all the world," he said.

In Lebanon, where a war between Israel and Hezbollah caused widespread casualties and extensive damage last year, sending millions from their homes, members of the Catholic Maronite community spoke of Francis' frequent mentions of their plight.

"He's a saint for us because he carried Lebanon and the Middle East in his heart, especially in the last period of war," said a priest in the southern Lebanese town of Rmeish, which was badly damaged during Israel's military campaign last year.

"We always felt he was very involved and he mobilized all the Catholic institutions and funds to help Lebanon throughout the crises that we went through," said Marie-Jo Dib, who works at a social foundation in Lebanon.

"He was a rebel and I really pray that the next pope will be like him," she added.

Francis made repeated trips to the Middle East, including to Iraq in 2021 where he learned that two suicide bombers had attempted to assassinate him in Mosul, a once cosmopolitan city where the ISIS terror group proclaimed a so-called caliphate from 2014-17.

He visited the ruins of four destroyed churches there and launched an appeal for peace.

In Syria, Archbishop Antiba Nicolas said he was holding mass at the historic Damascus Zaitoun church when he was handed a slip of paper with the news.

"He used to say 'dearest Syria' every time he spoke of Syria. He called on all international organisations to support Syria, the Christian presence and the church in Syria during the crisis in the past years," Nicolas said.