ETHIOPIA-SUDAN

The week saw worrying escalations in al-Fashaga, a swathe of fertile land disputed between Ethiopia and Sudan. First, Sudan accused the Ethiopian army of executing seven of its soldiers on Sudanese soil and displaying the bodies in Ethiopia; Addis Ababa heatedly rejected the account, claiming the soldiers were killed in a clash with a local militia on its side of the frontier. Then, on Wednesday, locals reported firefights as Sudanese units advanced on two villages held by Ethiopian troops. Khartoum denied any such operation, but reportedly took hold of a border town. The situation is highly dangerous, warn Crisis Group experts Alan Boswell and Will Davison. Al-Fashaga lies next to Tigray, the northernmost region of Ethiopia where the civil war that raged last year is still smouldering. The two cross-cutting conflicts – together with tensions over Ethiopia’s huge new dam on the Nile – could further destabilise the Horn of Africa.