Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed participates in military training exercises at the Hurso Military Training Centre in Ethiopia, Saturday, Oct. 31, 2026. (Ethiopia Prime Minister's Office via AP)
Ethiopia and Sudan traded tit-for-tat diplomat expulsions on Nov. 4, two Sudanese government officials told AFP, as a row deepened over allegations that Addis Ababa aided Sudanese rebel forces.
After Ethiopia gave six Sudanese diplomats 48 hours to leave, Sudan responded on Nov. 4 by ordering Ethiopian diplomats out, they said.
It comes after Sudan’s army-aligned government, at war with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), said it had identified dozens of RSF attacks from Ethiopian territory.
“Ethiopia declared on Nov. 2 the employees of the Sudanese consulate in Asosa in the Benishangul region persona non grata and gave them 48 hours to leave its territory,” a government official told AFP, requesting anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media.
Another official said Sudan responded by “informing the staff of the Ethiopian consulate in Gedaref,” near the border, “that they were persona non grata and gave them 48 hours to leave the country.”
Sudan and Ethiopia have repeatedly traded accusations of supporting rebel groups in each other’s territory.
On Nov. 1, Sudan’s ruling Transitional Sovereignty Council issued a report it said documented 70 attacks from inside Ethiopian territory this year by the RSF.
It said it filed complaints against Ethiopia at the U.N. Security Council and the African Union.
