Sudan summoned Ethiopian envoy over bodies found in river

KHARTOUM, Sudan

Sudan summoned the Ethiopian ambassador after dozens of corpses were found on the banks of a river between the two neighbors, the North African country’s Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.

In a statement, the ministry said Ethiopian Ambassador Yibeltal Aemero was summoned on Aug. 30 and told that 29 bodies were found on the Sudanese side of the Setit River in the Kassala province between July 26 and Aug. 8.

The river is known in Ethiopia as the Tekeze.

The ministry said it informed the Ethiopian diplomat that the bodies were Ethiopian nationals from the Tigray ethnic group, members of which have recently been involved in conflict with Ethiopian officials.

Last month, media reports said that 50 bodies were found in the river as a result of the ongoing conflict in the Tigray region.

There was no comment from the Ethiopian authorities on the report.

The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) ruled Ethiopia for 27 years until 2018.

Last November, the Ethiopian government launched a sweeping law enforcement operation across Tigray in which many TPLF leaders were either killed or arrested.

The insurgency is now expanding south, west, and east into the East African country’s neighboring regions of Amhara and Afar.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar​​​​​​​