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Eritrea retaliates against Addis Ababa

Eritrea’s decision to sever diplomatic relations was announced immediately after Ethiopia took its latest steps against Asmara. In a statement on Thursday, Oct. 1, Eritrea said it was cutting all diplomatic ties with Ethiopia after Addis Ababa expelled the diplomats.

The Eritrean Foreign Ministry said the move was taken in response to Ethiopia’s action and rejected accusations that it was engaged in hostile activity. Asmara said Ethiopia was in fact the side pursuing a sustained agenda of pressure and hostility. Eritrea also accused Addis Ababa of pursuing a war policy to gain access to the Red Sea and of sheltering and arming Eritrean opposition groups.

Ethiopia had earlier said it would close its embassy in Asmara. The Addis Ababa government said the decision was prompted by Eritrea’s direct and indirect hostile conduct toward Ethiopia.

Diplomatic crisis deepens as fighting spreads on the ground

The Ethiopian Foreign Ministry declared 10 Eritrean diplomats based in Addis Ababa persona non grata. The diplomats, including the chargé d'affaires and officials accredited to the African Union, were given 48 hours to leave the country.

  • Ethiopia said the diplomats had been involved in activities it described as a direct threat to national security.
  • Addis Ababa also accused Eritrea, Sudan and Egypt of backing an opposition alliance led by the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF).

The diplomatic escalation is unfolding against the backdrop of intensifying clashes in Ethiopia between federal forces and armed opposition groups. Explosions were heard in Addis Ababa on Wednesday and Thursday, while fighting between government forces and militants continued in the northern Afar region.

New claim from the Afar region

Afar region chief administrator Haji Awol Arba said Eritrean troops crossed into Afar and joined the opposition alliance’s assault days after the latest fighting began. Eritrea has rejected the allegations.

A fragile relationship between the two neighbors breaks down again

The developments are being seen as the most serious escalation since the end of the 2020-2022 civil war. Eritrea had backed Ethiopia’s federal government during the Tigray war. But relations quickly deteriorated after Eritrea was not included in the Pretoria Peace Agreement, which ended the fighting in November 2022.

Ties between Eritrea and Ethiopia have long been delicate. After Ethiopia annexed Eritrea in 1962, an armed independence struggle began and ended with Eritrea’s independence in 1993. A normalization process launched by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in 2018 briefly eased tensions, but landlocked Ethiopia’s push for direct access to the sea, and its statements on the issue, are viewed in Asmara as a new sign of territorial pressure.

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