Ethiopia and Eritrea accuse each other of waging a war of aggression
In a letter to the UN Security Council, Addis Ababa speaks of an “all-out invasion” of the north by Eritrea. Asmara counters that Ethiopia has been waging war on it for years.
Graphic: TERRA WORLD NEWS (own graphic based on the sources listed)
The risk of a new interstate war is growing in the Horn of Africa. In a letter to the UN Security Council released on Friday, Ethiopian Foreign Minister Gedion Timothewos accused Eritrea of an “all-out invasion” of parts of northern Ethiopia. Eritrean troops had advanced up to 60 kilometres into the Tigray region, he wrote, demanding their withdrawal. He called it a “blatant act of aggression” that engages Ethiopia's right to self-defence.
Eritrea's Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel rejected the accusations. The “Ethiopian regime” had in effect been pursuing an “unprovoked war of aggression” against Eritrea for more than three years, he wrote on X. He accused Addis Ababa of wanting to use the conflict to seize the Eritrean port of Assab and regain access to the Red Sea. He denied that Eritrea supports the Tigrayan rebels.
The escalation follows a rapid turn in the Tigray war: Ethiopia's army pushed back the TPLF rebels and took the regional capital Mekelle. Witnesses recently reported seeing Eritrean soldiers in Adigrat before Ethiopian drone strikes reportedly hit them. Last week Ethiopia closed its embassy in Asmara and expelled Eritrean diplomats, after which Eritrea severed ties. The two countries already fought a two-year border war starting in 1998.