Along the fractured fault lines of the Horn of Africa, two nations that once fought side by side have now turned fully against one another — Eritrea severing all diplomatic ties with Ethiopia after Addis Ababa expelled its diplomats and closed its embassy in Asmara. The break arrives as explosions echo in the Ethiopian capital and fighting spreads across multiple regions, marking the gravest escalation since a civil war that scarred the continent only a few years ago. Beneath the diplomatic formalities lies a deeper contest over identity, sovereignty, and the sea — a landlocked nation's hunger
Eritrea severs ties with Ethiopia as regional conflict escalates
Civilians are bearing the brunt of escalating violence across Ethiopia, with fighting spreading to multiple regions including Addis Ababa and the Afar region.
Eritrea has no option but to sever all diplomatic ties
Mark
So Eritrea and Ethiopia just cut ties completely. What triggered this exact moment?
Mimi
Ethiopia closed its embassy in Asmara and expelled ten Eritrean diplomats, saying they posed a security threat. Eritrea saw no choice but to respond by severing all diplomatic relations.
Luke
But that's the immediate trigger. The real question is whether Eritrea was actually involved in supporting the opposition, or whether Ethiopia is using that as cover for something else.
Mimi
Eritrea denies it entirely. They say Ethiopia is the aggressor—that Addis Ababa has been hosting and arming Eritrean opposition groups to destabilize them.
Mark
And what about the fighting itself? Is this just a diplomatic spat, or is there actual military action happening?
Mimi
There's serious fighting. The Afar region's administrator says Eritrean soldiers have crossed into Afar to support the opposition alliance. Explosions have been heard in Addis Ababa.
Luke
So we have one official saying Eritrean troops are there. Do we have independent confirmation of that, or is that one source's account?
Mimi
That's what Haji Awol Arba told Al Jazeera. It's a credible source, but it's one account of a military situation that's still unfolding.
Mark
Why does Ethiopia care so much about sea access? Aren't there other ways to solve that?
Mimi
Ethiopia is landlocked. For centuries, access to the Red Sea has been a strategic obsession. Abiy Ahmed has said publicly that Ethiopia has a right to sea access, and Eritrea interprets that as a territorial threat.
Luke
That's the interpretation. But has Abiy explicitly said he wants Eritrean territory, or is Eritrea reading between the lines?
Mimi
He hasn't said it directly. But when a landlocked leader keeps repeating that his country deserves sea access, and the only neighbor with a coast is Eritrea, the message is pretty clear.
Mark
So this could get worse?
Mimi
The diplomatic channel is now closed. That removes a way to talk things down. And we're already seeing regional powers—Sudan, Egypt—getting pulled in.
O Pulso
- Ethiopia expelled ten Eritrean diplomats within 48 hours and shuttered its Asmara embassy, calling them threats to national security — a move Eritrea answered by cutting all diplomatic ties the same day.
- Explosions have been reported in Addis Ababa and fighting has spread to the northern Afar region, where Eritrean soldiers are alleged to have crossed the border to support opposition forces.
- Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan, and Egypt are now trading expulsions in rapid succession, each tit-for-tat move drawing more regional actors into a conflict that risks becoming a wider Horn of Africa war.
- Eritrea accuses Ethiopia of hosting and arming Eritrean opposition groups and of pursuing Red Sea access at Asmara's expense — charges Ethiopia denies while pointing to a Tigray-led opposition alliance it says is foreign-backed.
- Three U.S. lawmakers have issued urgent calls for peace negotiations, warning that civilians are bearing the heaviest cost and that the entire region — already strained by Sudan's ongoing crisis — stands on a dangerous edge.
Along the fractured fault lines of the Horn of Africa, two nations that once fought side by side have now turned fully against one another — Eritrea severing all diplomatic ties with Ethiopia after Addis Ababa expelled its diplomats and closed its embassy in Asmara. The break arrives as explosions echo in the Ethiopian capital and fighting spreads across multiple regions, marking the gravest escalation since a civil war that scarred the continent only a few years ago. Beneath the diplomatic formalities lies a deeper contest over identity, sovereignty, and the sea — a landlocked nation's hunger for coastal access colliding with a small neighbor's fear of being swallowed whole.
On Thursday, Ethiopia ordered ten Eritrean diplomats — including the charge d'affaires and envoys accredited to the African Union — to leave the country within 48 hours, declaring them threats to national security and closing its embassy in Asmara. Eritrea responded the same day, announcing it would sever all diplomatic ties, framing the decision not as aggression but as a necessary answer to what it called a sustained pattern of Ethiopian hostility.
The rupture is unfolding against a backdrop of rapidly intensifying armed conflict. Ethiopian federal forces are battling a coalition of opposition groups led by the Tigray People's Liberation Front, with explosions reported in Addis Ababa and clashes spreading to the northern Afar region. The Afar region's chief administrator told Al Jazeera that Eritrean soldiers had crossed the border to support the offensive — a claim Eritrea flatly denies. Ethiopia has also accused Sudan and Egypt of backing the opposition alliance; Egypt responded to the expulsion of one of its diplomats by removing an Ethiopian counsellor from Cairo, a chain of tit-for-tat moves that signals how quickly the conflict is pulling in neighboring states.
The grievances run deeper than the current crisis. Ethiopia annexed Eritrea in 1962, setting off a decades-long independence war that ended in 1993. When Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed came to power in 2018, he moved to normalize relations — but his repeated public statements about Ethiopia's right to sea access have alarmed Asmara, which interprets such language as a veiled territorial claim. Eritrea's foreign ministry argues that Ethiopia has long sought to destabilize it by arming opposition groups, and that the current hostility is the culmination of that agenda. Notably, Eritrea was not a party to the 2022 Pretoria Agreement that ended the last civil war, and despite having fought alongside Ethiopian federal forces during that conflict, the two countries' alliance has since collapsed entirely.
Three U.S. Representatives — Ilhan Omar, Jim McGovern, and John Garamendi — issued a joint statement calling on all parties to return immediately to peace negotiations, warning that ordinary civilians are paying the steepest price and that the conflict threatens to destabilize a region already battered by war and crisis. With the diplomatic channel between Eritrea and Ethiopia now closed, the Horn of Africa enters one of its most volatile moments in years — and one of its most isolated from the possibility of dialogue.
Ethiopia closed its embassy in Asmara on Thursday and ordered ten Eritrean diplomats to leave the country within 48 hours, declaring them threats to national security. Among those expelled were the charge d'affaires and diplomats accredited to the African Union. Eritrea responded the same day by announcing it would sever all diplomatic ties with Ethiopia, calling the move a necessary reciprocation to what it characterized as Ethiopian hostility.
The diplomatic rupture unfolds against a backdrop of intensifying armed conflict. Ethiopian federal forces are fighting a coalition of opposition groups led by the Tigray People's Liberation Front, a movement that has clashed with government troops since last week. Explosions have been reported in Addis Ababa, and fighting has spread to the northern Afar region. The escalation represents the most serious military confrontation since the end of a devastating civil war that ran from 2020 to 2022.
Ethiopia's government accuses Eritrea, Sudan, and Egypt of backing the opposition alliance. Eritrea flatly denies involvement in hostile activities, calling such claims "astounding." Instead, Eritrea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs argues that Ethiopia has pursued a consistent agenda of aggression, including hosting, training, and arming Eritrean opposition groups to destabilize the country. The ministry also asserts that Ethiopia has waged war against Eritrea specifically to gain access to the Red Sea—a landlocked nation's long-standing strategic ambition.
The Afar region's chief administrator, Haji Awol Arba, told Al Jazeera that Eritrean soldiers had crossed into Afar to support the opposition offensive. Ethiopia separately declared an Egyptian diplomat persona non grata and ordered him out within 48 hours. Egypt responded in kind, expelling an Ethiopian embassy counsellor from Cairo. The tit-for-tat expulsions signal how quickly the conflict is pulling in regional actors.
The historical roots run deep. Ethiopia annexed Eritrea in 1962, triggering a decades-long independence struggle led by Eritrea's current President Isaias Afwerki. Eritrea won independence in 1993. When Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed took office in 2018, he moved to normalize relations and ease tensions between the neighbors. But Abiy's repeated public statements about Ethiopia's right to sea access—a landlocked nation's perennial frustration—have alarmed officials in Asmara, who interpret such language as a territorial claim.
Eritrea was not a signatory to the Pretoria Peace Agreement that ended the 2020-2022 Tigray war in November 2022. Relations deteriorated rapidly after that accord. During the civil war itself, Eritrea had fought alongside the Ethiopian federal government, but that alliance has fractured. The current conflict marks a fundamental realignment in the region's power dynamics.
Three U.S. Representatives—Ilhan Omar, Jim McGovern, and John Garamendi—issued a statement Thursday expressing alarm at the escalating violence and calling on all parties to "immediately recommit to peace negotiations." They noted that ordinary civilians are bearing the heaviest cost of the fighting, and warned that the conflict threatens not only Ethiopia but the entire region, already destabilized by the previous northern war and the ongoing crisis in Sudan. The diplomatic severance between Eritrea and Ethiopia removes one more channel for de-escalation at a moment when the Horn of Africa faces its most volatile period in years.
Citações Notáveis
Eritrea has no option but to reciprocate in kind and sever all diplomatic ties with Ethiopia with all the negative corollaries that this entails— Eritrea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Ordinary civilians are bearing the brunt of this violence— U.S. Representatives Ilhan Omar, Jim McGovern, and John Garamendi
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