Nairobi, Oct. 2 (EFE). – The severing of diplomatic relations between Ethiopia and Eritrea has raised tensions in the Horn of Africa, marking an escalation in the strained relationship between the two countries, despite having fought as allies in the war in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region (2020–2022) after decades of mutual hostility.
Addis Ababa announced on Thursday the closure of its embassy in Eritrea and the expulsion of 10 Eritrean diplomats, followed by an announcement from Asmara severing relations with Ethiopia.
Historic peace
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed came to power on Apr. 2, 2018, and has since sought a rapprochement with Eritrea, which gained independence from Ethiopia in 1993.
Eritrea, led since its independence by Isaias Afwerki, has become one of the most closed and repressive regimes in the world and is known as the “North Korea of Africa.”
Border disputes between the two countries triggered a war from 1998 to 2000 that claimed tens of thousands of lives and ended with the Algiers Agreement on Dec. 12, 2000.
On 9 July 2018, Abiy committed Ethiopia and Eritrea to respect the borders agreed in Algiers and work together on economic, social, cultural, and security matters, which earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019.
Ethiopian-Eritrean alliance in the Tigray War
The improving bilateral relations led Ethiopia and Eritrea to fight together against the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), the region’s ruling party and a dominant force in Ethiopian politics since 1991, in the war that broke out in 2020.
In 2021, the United States imposed sanctions on Eritrea for committing war crimes during the conflict, although it eventually lifted them on Sep 19.
The conflict was settled in 2022 with the Pretoria Peace Agreement, following the deaths of at least 600,000 people, according to the African Union mediator, former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo (1999-2007).
Strained relations over Ethiopian access to the Red Sea
The alliance suffered a setback in 2023, when Abiy announced his intention to restore Ethiopia’s access to the Red Sea.
The Ethiopian leader considered this issue an “existential matter” for the country and described the loss of these ports as a “mistake.”
In July 2025, Afwerki accused Ethiopia of planning a war, but Abiy ruled out a possible invasion.
“We have no intention of going to war with Eritrea. We hope to resolve our differences through dialogue and will invite our international partners to help us address our problems,” the Ethiopian leader said in October 2025.
Eritrea, accused of supporting Ethiopian rebels
Relations between the two countries continued to deteriorate, and in October, Abiy accused Isaias of interfering in Ethiopia’s internal affairs by supporting rebel and opposition groups.
The situation continued to escalate until, on Feb. 8, the Ethiopian government accused Eritrea of deploying troops on its territory, as well as of allying with the TPLF and providing them with direct material assistance.
Asmara denied these allegations, calling them part of the “spiral of hostile campaigns” against Eritrea that “has now lasted more than two years.”
Complete breakdown
All these factors soured relations between Ethiopia and Eritrea until, on Thursday, after Field Marshal Birhanu Jula, chief of staff of the Ethiopian National Defense Force, accused Eritrea, Egypt, and Sudan in late September of supporting a newly formed alliance of armed and opposition groups seeking to destabilize the country.
The tension between Addis Ababa and Asmara comes as Ethiopia faces intensifying fighting in the north after the TPLF announced last week a “defensive war” against the federal government. EFE
pmc/mcd
