A recent intelligence report has revealed that Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sent a formal message to General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, head of the SAF junta in Port Sudan, asking Khartoum to guarantee that the disputed Al-Fashaga border area would not be used as a military base to support Eritrea or Tigray forces in case of renewed conflict with Addis Ababa.
According to Al-Mashhad Al-Sudani, Ethiopia fears that Al-Fashaga, which borders the Tigray region, could become a logistical and military corridor for Eritrean forces—particularly in the contested Wolkait zone, where Tigrayan fighters and Amhara militias are locked in a bitter dispute.
In June, high-level envoys, including Ethiopia’s intelligence chief Redwan Hussein and East Africa advisor Getachew Reda, delivered the request directly to Port Sudan.
The report says Burhan dismissed the Ethiopian appeal and reaffirmed SAF’s strategic alliance with Eritrea. This partnership, the report notes, includes military and logistical cooperation, hosting Sudanese refugees, facilitating travel to Gulf countries, and training Sudanese recruits in Eritrean camps.
In May, Sudanese warplanes were temporarily stationed at Asmara International Airport to protect them from drone strikes that SAF junta accuses the UAE of carrying out.
