[6][7] The border leaves the trifion between Eritrea, Ethiopia and Sudan, located on the course of the Tekezé River, near the Ethiopian town of Humera.

Administratively, the border separates the Eritrean regions of Anseba, Gash-Barka, and Semenawi-Keyih-Bahri from the Sudanese states of Kassala and Red Sea.

[8] The process culminated in the Berlin Conference of 1884, in which the European nations concerned agreed upon their respective territorial claims and the rules of engagements going forward.

As a result of this France gained control the upper valley of the Niger River (roughly equivalent to the areas of modern Mali and Niger), and also the lands explored by Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza for France in Central Africa (roughly equivalent to modern Gabon and Congo-Brazzaville).

[8] From these bases the French explored further into the interior, eventually linking the two areas following expeditions in April 1900 which met at Kousséri in the far north of modern Cameroon.

The British delegation to the United Nations proposed that Eritrea be divided along religious lines with the Christians to Ethiopia and the Muslims to Sudan.

The independence struggle can properly be understood as the resistance to the annexation of Eritrea by Ethiopia long after the Italians left the territory.

[20] Eritrea's surprise 1998 invasion of the Ethiopian-administered border village of Badme dramatically changed the political situation in the region.

During the spring of 2000, when tensions remained high in the area Sudan reported over 100,000 Eritreans had crossed the border into the country, most in dire conditions.

[22]Sudan closed its border with Eritrea in January 2018, citing concerns over illegal crossings and human trafficking which were staggering at the time.

[23] Sudan reopened the border once again in 2019 after the country managed to have a successful coup d'état earlier in the year, An agreement between Isaias Afwerki and Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo was made.

[28] On 31 January 2019, Omar al-Bashir announced the reopening of the border in Kassala after over a year of large clashes which had killed at least 30 people in the last few months.

[29] On 5 May 2021, Isaias Afwerki arrived at the Khartoum International Airport to discuss the large border dispute and Tigray tensions between both countries.