Sudan bans traffic over Qadarif border region with Ethiopia

The Sudanese Civil Aviation Authority has banned all civilian air traffic from using the airspace over the Al Qadarif border region following a bout of border clashes with Ethiopia. Spokesman Abdelhafez Abdelrahim confirmed to Turkey’s Anadolu Agency that the decision had been taken at the request of the Sudanese Ministry of Defence. Al Qadarif hosts thousands of refugees from Ethiopia’s Tigray region, who fled during last year’s escalation between the regional authorities and the Ethiopian federal government. In mid-January, the Sudanese government accused the Ethiopian Air Force of violating its airspace in Al Qadarif. It also said that government-backed Ethiopian “gangs” had entered into Sudanese territory and attacked civilians. Ethiopia previously claimed that while it was battling the Tigrayan insurgency, Sudan had taken control of parts of Ethiopian territory adjacent to Al Qadarif. The exact border location between the countries has been the subject of a decades-long dispute. The only airport in Al Qadarif serves the state capital but currently sees no known scheduled traffic.