Workers assess damage at the Al-Markhiyat power station north of Omdurman on October 28, 2026, following a reported drone strike by Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. (AFP)
Khartoum: Ethiopia and Sudan executed reciprocal, tit-for-tat diplomat expulsions on Wednesday, senior government officials in Khartoum confirmed to AFP, after allegations that Addis Ababa facilitated paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) drone strikes from its territory.
After Ethiopia gave six Sudanese diplomats 48 hours to leave, Sudan responded on Wednesday 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 November 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 authorised 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".
Ethiopian authorities did not immediately respond to AFP's request for comment.
Sudan and Ethiopia have repeatedly traded accusations of supporting rebel groups in each other's territory.
On Sunday, 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 UN Security Council and the African Union.
The Sudanese government official called the consular staff's expulsion an "escalation" after Sudan documented "Ethiopia's support for the RSF militia, including by allowing them to use its land to attack Sudanese cities and civilian infrastructure".
The report said 187 one-way attack drones were launched from Ethiopian territory, killing and injuring nearly 500 civilians.
Ethiopia, which denies the accusations, has accused the Sudanese army of backing rebels linked to the Tigray People's Liberation Front, an allegation Khartoum rejects.
