Khartoum’s move comes after Ethiopia reportedly closed Sudanese consulate and ordered six diplomats to leave the country.
Published On 4 Nov 20264 Nov 2026
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Updated: 4 hours agoUpdated: 4 hours ago
Sudan has closed Ethiopia’s consulate near their shared border and expelled its diplomats, hours after Addis Ababa expelled six Sudanese diplomats and shut down Khartoum’s consulate in the region, according to media reports.
Ethiopian and Sudanese officials told the Reuters and AFP news agencies about the tit-for-tat moves on Wednesday, as tensions continue to rise between the two countries. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity.
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Sudan accuses Ethiopia of aiding the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a Sudanese paramilitary group embroiled in a civil war against the country’s regular army.
Ethiopia, meanwhile, accuses Sudan of backing rebels the government in Addis Ababa is fighting in the northern Tigray region.
The allegations and counter-allegations, which both sides deny, have raised fears that the two conflicts could bleed into each other, spawning a broader war in the Horn of Africa.
Reuters, citing a senior official, reported that Ethiopia ordered six staff members of the Sudanese consulate in the border town of Asosa to leave within 48 hours. It said the official asked not to be named so he could discuss a sensitive diplomatic matter.
The Associated Press news agency also reported the action, citing an Ethiopian intelligence official. It said a Sudanese official had corroborated the expulsions, adding that Ethiopian authorities summoned Sudan’s ambassador on Sunday to announce the consulate’s closure.
The Sudanese official said the staff departed on Tuesday evening. The agency said neither official had provided a specific reason for the ousters.
In retaliation, Sudan’s government closed the Ethiopian consulate in the eastern city of Gadarif and expelled the diplomats working there, two Sudanese officials told Reuters on Wednesday.
An official separately told AFP that Sudan responded by “informing the staff of the Ethiopian consulate in Gadarif”, near the border, “that they were persona non grata, and gave them 48 hours to leave the country”.
Regional tensions
The expulsions came after Sudan lodged a complaint against Ethiopia with both the United Nations Security Council and the African Union’s Peace and Security Council on Sunday, accusing Ethiopia of allowing the RSF to use its territory to launch deadly drone attacks against civilian infrastructure in Sudan.
“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,” said Amjad Farid, political and foreign affairs adviser for Sudan’s Transitional Sovereign Council. The Sudanese council is the country’s internationally recognised collective head of state.
A direct military confrontation with Addis Ababa would severely strain an already exhausted Sudanese military apparatus, which is still involved in intense battles with the RSF in the southeast of the country.
Addis Ababa denies it supports the RSF in Sudan’s civil war.
The fighting between Sudan’s military and the RSF, which erupted in 2023, has since killed tens of thousands of people and displaced more than 14 million. The civil war has created one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, according to the UN.
On Sunday, drone strikes on electricity substations in the northern Sudanese towns of al-Dabba and Abu Hamad knocked out power. Sudan’s government and the rights group Emergency Lawyers blamed the RSF.
The conflict has more widely disrupted electricity and water supplies and threatened essential medical services.
Ethiopia’s order on the Sudanese diplomats also follows its decision to expel 10 Eritrean diplomats and close Addis Ababa’s embassy in Eritrea on October 1. Eritrea responded by severing diplomatic ties.
Ethiopia also expelled an Egyptian diplomat last month. Relations with Cairo have long been strained over Ethiopia’s massive dam on the Blue Nile, which Egypt fears could threaten its water supplies.
Addis Ababa has accused Sudan, Egypt and Eritrea of supporting Tigrayan rebels who launched an offensive against Ethiopian government forces in September. All three countries have denied the accusations.