Mohammed Alamin and Simon Marks

Sudan closed its border with Ethiopia on concern that clashes in a northern region of the neighboring country may spread.

The action is aimed at stopping fighters in Ethiopia’s Tigray region from crossing the frontier, the government of Sudan’s Kassala state said in a statement. Kassala’s governor plans to travel to the border areas to assess the security situation, it said.

Ethiopia’s military clashed with forces loyal to Tigray’s ruling Tigray People’s Liberation Front for a second day on Thursday. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed ordered the incursion after accusing the region’s government of attacking a federal army camp.

Relations between Tigray and Abiy’s government have been strained since Abiy took office in 2018 and sidelined the TPLF, once the pre-eminent power broker in Ethiopia. Last month, the federal parliament ordered the Treasury to halt direct budgetary support to the Tigrayan administration for defying an order to postpone regional elections. Tigray’s leaders said the withholding of funding was unconstitutional and tantamount to a declaration of war.

The fighting has prompted a selloff of Ethiopian Eurobonds over the past two days. Yields on the nation’s debt due 2024 jumped 83 basis points since Tuesday to 7.09% in London on Thursday, the highest since June 15, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

There have been few details on the intensity of the clashes so far, after the government shut down communications networks in the region.

Two foreign diplomats briefed on the violence said they have received reports of heavy fighting in three areas that have caused dozens of casualties. The areas include north of the city of Gondor, about 420 kilometers (261 miles) north of the capital, Addis Ababa; the town of Homera; and around a military facility at Dansha, the diplomats said, asking not to be identified as they’re not authorised to speak to the media.

German news agency Deutsche Welle reported that the army conducted airstrikes on locations around the Tigrayan capital, Mekelle, on Thursday. State Minister of Foreign Affairs Redwan Hussein said he couldn’t comment when contacted by Bloomberg on Friday.

Security forces on both sides of the conflict sustained injuries, the deputy chief of the army, Berhanu Jula, told reporters on Thursday.

“Our country has entered into a war it didn’t anticipate,” Berhanu said in the capital, Addis Ababa, adding that the government anticipates the conflict will not spread. The war will not come to the center. It will end” in Tigray, he said.

Abiy has so far resisted diplomatic pressure to halt the military offensive. U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo on Thursday called for “immediate action to restore the peace and deescalate tensions.”

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.