Ethiopia Orders Six Sudanese Consulate Staff in Assosa to Leave Within 48 Hours, Senior Ethiopian Official Tells Reuters

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Ethiopia has ordered six staff members of Sudan’s consulate in Assosa, the capital of the Benishangul Gumuz region near the Sudanese border, to leave the country within 48 hours, a senior Ethiopian official told Reuters, in a report carried by KELO on Wednesday, without giving a reason.

The official asked not to be named to discuss a sensitive diplomatic matter, Reuters said, and the spokesperson for the Ethiopian prime minister’s office did not immediately respond to the agency’s request for comment. Ethiopia’s Foreign Ministry has not commented publicly.

Other outlets reported the same move. Anadolu Agency, citing local media and diplomatic sources, said Ethiopia had ordered six Sudanese diplomatic and consular officials to leave within 48 hours and had ordered the closure of the consulate. BBC Afaan Oromoo carried the Reuters report and said the Ethiopian government had not responded publicly. A day earlier, Asharq Bloomberg reported, according to Al Sudan Today, that two sources said Ethiopian authorities had declared all the consulate’s staff persona non grata, Al Sudan Today reported, adding that it was not clear whether Ethiopia had formally notified the Sudanese side or set a deadline. Zegabi could not independently confirm the order.

Sudan’s foreign minister, Mohi Eddin Salem, spoke of the closure as a fact in an interview published on Wednesday by the Sudanese outlet Al Mohagig, which asked him about Addis Ababa’s decision to close the consulate and give its staff 48 hours to leave. “We believe that closing diplomatic and consular offices is a sign of an unwillingness to deal positively and peacefully with these issues,” Salem said, according to Al Mohagig. “We hope our neighbor Ethiopia will reconsider and return to positive engagement and relations based on good neighborliness with Sudan.” Asked whether Khartoum would take reciprocal steps, he said international law gives Sudan “full rights to express our sovereignty and take the political measures we see fit.” Salem also said Sudan had handed the Arab League “conclusive evidence” of drone attacks launched from Ethiopian territory. Zegabi could not verify that claim.

Later on Wednesday, Sudan closed Ethiopia’s consulate in the eastern city of Gadarif and expelled its diplomats, two Sudanese officials told Reuters, according to Al Jazeera. An official separately told AFP that Sudan had informed the Ethiopian consulate staff they were persona non grata and given them 48 hours to leave, Al Jazeera reported. Neither country’s foreign ministry has issued an official statement on the mutual expulsions, Sudan Tribune said. Zegabi could not independently confirm the Gadarif order.

The order follows Sudan’s formal complaints against Ethiopia. Sudan’s government said on Sunday, Nov. 1, that it had complained to the UN Security Council and the African Union’s Peace and Security Council, accusing Ethiopia of allowing the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces to use its territory to launch suicide drones against civilian infrastructure in Sudan, Reuters and Sudan Tribune reported. Amjad Farid, an adviser to Sudan’s Transitional Sovereign Council, said 70 attacks involving 187 explosive drones were launched from Ethiopia between Feb. 15 and Oct. 27, killing more than 400 civilians, Anadolu reported. Sudanese officials had earlier said data from downed drones showed launch points inside Ethiopia, including Bahir Dar Airport. Ethiopia denies supporting the RSF and in turn accuses Sudan, Egypt and Eritrea of backing the Tigrayan forces that launched an offensive against the federal government in September, which all three deny, Reuters said. “The Sudanese government remains committed to its right to defend its territory. Nevertheless, it is making every possible effort to avoid an open war with Ethiopia,” Farid told Reuters.

Reaction on X came mostly in Arabic, much of it from Sudanese users asking why Khartoum had not answered. The account @Mohammedosmana, whose bio describes its owner as a journalist, wrote in Arabic that Sudan cannot fight a military war against Ethiopia at present, “but the absence of a swift response to the incident of the Sudanese consulate in Assosa is neither understandable nor acceptable.” The account Mona (@Mona998_12), whose bio describes her as an electrical engineer, wrote in Arabic, “We know military escalation is not wanted right now. Fine, but where is the diplomatic response? Humiliating silence … when will you speak?” Yasser (@yasseralfadol) relayed the Reuters report in Arabic to his more than 42,000 followers. In Amharic, the diaspora news account The Horn Frequency (@thehornfreqe) wrote on Tuesday that it had learned that “Ethiopia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs asked the diplomats of the Sudanese consulate in Assosa to leave the country,” and that, according to “sources close to the matter,” the ministry had given them 48 hours in a warning issued on Monday. Zegabi found no posts in Tigrigna about the expulsion.

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