Ethiopia and Eritrea accuse each other of war: Addis Ababa tells the UN of an “all-out invasion”, Asmara cites a “war of aggression”

Ethiopia has accused Eritrea of an “all-out invasion” of areas in its north, while Eritrea says it is facing an “unprovoked war of aggression” from its neighbour. The exchange of accusations raises the risk of a wider conflict in the Horn of Africa, days after the two countries severed diplomatic relations.

Ethiopia’s letter

In a letter to the UN Security Council dated Thursday, October 8, and shared with news agencies on Friday, Ethiopian Foreign Minister Gedion Timothewos writes that “the all-out invasion of parts of northern Ethiopia by Eritrea is a matter of public record.” He calls it “a blatant act of aggression that engages Ethiopia’s inherent right to self-defence,” according to Al Jazeera, which says the letter was addressed to French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot.

Gedion says Eritrean troops have advanced up to 60 kilometres (37 miles) into the Tigray region and demands their withdrawal. Addis Ababa also accuses Asmara of backing the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which belongs to an alliance of seven armed groups that has been trying to overthrow Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government since September.

Asmara’s response

Eritrea’s Minister of Information, Yemane Gebremeskel, rejected the accusations in a post on X. “The Ethiopian regime has been pursuing, in effect, an unprovoked war of aggression against Eritrea for more than three years now,” he wrote. His post described Addis Ababa’s claims as “audacity and duplicity in their most extreme forms.” Eritrea denies backing the TPLF.

According to Asmara, landlocked Ethiopia essentially declared war in 2023, when it said it would gain access to the sea. Yemane accuses Addis Ababa of using the current conflict to seize Assab, an Eritrean port on the Red Sea. Ethiopia lost its coastline when Eritrea became independent in 1993 and has no sea access. Abiy has repeatedly said Ethiopia has a right to it, a claim Eritrea sees as a threat to Assab.

The situation on the ground

Over the past week Ethiopian federal forces entered Mekelle, the capital of Tigray, and, according to witnesses who spoke to AFP, the rebels also lost the cities of Shire and Adigrat. Eritrean troops were reportedly seen in Adigrat before Ethiopian drone strikes hit them, the witnesses said. Geopolitiki has also looked at fears of Eritrean and Egyptian involvement after the fall of Mekelle.

Ethiopia closed its embassy in Asmara and expelled ten Eritrean diplomats, and Eritrea responded by cutting relations.

The two countries fought a border war from 1998 to 2000. Relations improved in 2018 with Abiy’s rise to power, and Eritrea fought alongside Ethiopia against the TPLF in the 2020–2022 civil war, but it was not a party to the peace agreement that ended it.