Ethiopia Orders Sudanese Diplomats Out Amid Tensions

Ethiopia ordered six Sudanese diplomatic staff members to leave the country within 48 hours, a senior Ethiopian official told Reuters on Wednesday. The order targeted staff at Sudan’s consulate in Assosa, the administrative center of Benishangul-Gumuz Regional State. The official gave no reason. A state issued the deadline; the people required to comply were diplomatic staff, while the spokesperson for the Ethiopian prime minister’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A deadline from the state

The reported expulsion came days after Sudan’s army-aligned government said it had filed formal complaints against Ethiopia with the United Nations Security Council and the African Union Peace and Security Council. Sudan accused Addis Ababa of allowing the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces to use Ethiopian territory to launch drone attacks against civilian infrastructure in Sudan. Ethiopia has accused Khartoum of backing Tigrayan rebels involved in renewed fighting in northern Ethiopia. Both governments deny the allegations made against them.

Amjad Farid, a political and foreign affairs adviser to Sudan’s Transitional Sovereignty Council, told Reuters that Khartoum remained committed to defending its territory but was making every effort to avoid an open war with Ethiopia. His words describe the tightrope officials say they’re walking; the people facing the consequences of the wider conflict are largely absent from the diplomatic exchange.

Sudan’s war began in April 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces. According to United Nations figures, it has displaced more than 14 million people and created one of the world’s gravest humanitarian crises. That scale of displacement sits behind the official language of complaints, allegations and diplomatic expulsions. The account describes no community-organized response or mutual-aid effort; the actions it records are taken by governments and international bodies.

More capitals, more accusations

Ethiopia’s relations with Eritrea have also worsened. On Oct. 1, Addis Standard reported that Ethiopia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the closure of its embassy in Asmara and declared 10 Eritrean diplomats in Addis Ababa persona non grata, ordering them to leave within 48 hours. The ministry cited what it called Eritrea’s “direct and indirect acts of hostility and belligerence against Ethiopia.” It alleged the diplomats had engaged in activities threatening national security, but didn’t publicly specify the incidents.

Ethiopia has also accused Egypt and Eritrea of supporting Tigrayan rebels who launched an offensive against government forces in September. Both countries have denied the allegations. Sudan’s complaints to the two international bodies have further internationalized the dispute, as concern grows that Sudan’s civil war could intersect with conflicts inside Ethiopia and regional rivalries.

The reported expulsion does not, by itself, establish Ethiopia’s response to Sudan’s formal complaints. Diplomatic channels between the countries are described as increasingly strained, with overlapping disputes involving Eritrea and Egypt adding to regional tensions. For now, the public record is a chain of state orders and competing accusations, while the consular staff have been given 48 hours to leave.