The disputed Sudan-Ethiopia border area witnessed a rapid rise in tension in recent days as Khartoum launched a large-scale attack on positions controlled by the Ethiopian Army after accusing it of capturing, executing and publicly displaying the bodies of seven of its soldiers and one civilian in late June — a claim the latter has denied.

The deteriorating situation in the turbulent Al Fashaga region came at a time when the popularity of the generals in Sudan is at a low ebb following last October’s military coup and ahead of a new round of massive protests launched June 30. It also comes shortly before Addis Ababa begins the third filling of the massive Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) it is finalizing on the Nile, which is one of the main elements of friction between the two countries.

In Sudan, the killings have been unanimously condemned in what some have wanted to see as an unusual show of unity in the country. But several civil society groups have also criticized the generals for taking advantage of a situation they see as partly the result of their mismanagement of their priorities to try to rally the people behind their leadership.

In parallel, Cairo — a close ally of the Sudanese military and aligned with Khartoum on the GERD file — expressed sympathies with Sudan, while the African Union called on the two sides to refrain from military escalation and seek a negotiated way out of their dispute.