Ethiopia denies its military aircraft crossed border into Sudan

NAIROBI: Ethiopia has denied a Sudanese allegation that an Ethiopian military aircraft crossed the border into Sudan.

Sudan said on Wednesday that the aircraft entered its airspace in a "dangerous and unjustified escalation" that "could have dangerous consequences, and cause more tension in the border areas".

"The claim that our planes crossed the border is fabricated," army chief of staff Berhanu Jula said in an interview on Friday with Voice of America's Amharic service.

Jula said unnamed officials in the Sudanese government were trying to mislead the Sudanese and Ethiopian people into an "unwanted situation".

Armed clashes erupted late last year over the course of a border that has been disputed for over a century. Britain unilaterally demarcated the border in 1903 and Ethiopia says some of its land ended up in what is now Sudan.

There have been a number of failed attempts over the past few decades to agree where the border should run and tens of thousands of Ethiopian farmers remain on the Sudanese side of the frontier.