Eritrea hits back at Ethiopia over ‘fabricated’ border claims

Asmara (Somalia Today) – Eritrea on Monday dismissed as “patently false” accusations by Ethiopia that its troops had occupied territory and were supporting armed groups, marking a dangerous new spike in tensions between the Horn of Africa arch-rivals.

In a blistering statement, the Ministry of Information in Asmara rejected claims made over the weekend by Addis Ababa as “fabricated,” warning they were part of a “spiral of hostile campaigns” designed to drag the neighbours back into conflict.

“The Government of Eritrea has no appetite for, or desire to, engage in meaningless acrimony to add fuel and exacerbate the situation,” the ministry said in a press release issued Monday.

The denial comes two days after Ethiopia’s Foreign Minister Gedion Timothewos sent a letter to his Eritrean counterpart, Osman Saleh, alleging “outright aggression” by Eritrean forces.

In the letter, dated February 7 and seen by Somalia Today, Gedion accused Eritrean troops of occupying Ethiopian territory along the shared border for an extended period and conducting “joint military manoeuvres” with rebel groups in the northwest.

“The incursion of Eritrean troops further into Ethiopian territory… are not just provocations but acts of outright aggression,” the letter stated, demanding an immediate withdrawal.

Shifting alliances

The exchange underscores how quickly the relationship between the two nations can deteriorate—one that has swung dramatically from war to peace and back to hostility over the past few decades.

Eritrea and Ethiopia fought a brutal border war between 1998 and 2000 that left an estimated 80,000 people dead and was followed by a decades-long “cold peace.”

Relations thawed abruptly in 2018 when Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed accepted a UN-backed border ruling, leading to a historic peace deal that earned him the Nobel Peace Prize the following year.

The two nations subsequently became close allies during Ethiopia’s 2020-2022 civil war in the Tigray region, where Eritrean troops fought alongside Ethiopian federal forces against the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).

However, ties have soured significantly since the signing of the Pretoria cessation of hostilities agreement in November 2022, which ended the Tigray conflict.

Eritrea was not a party to the deal and has viewed Abiy’s subsequent engagement with Tigrayan leaders with deep suspicion.

The Red Sea issue

Tensions reached a boiling point last year after Prime Minister Abiy declared that landlocked Ethiopia had a natural right to access the Red Sea, a comment widely interpreted in Asmara as a threat to annex the Eritrean port of Assab.

Ethiopia lost its direct access to the sea when Eritrea gained independence in 1993 after a three-decade liberation struggle.

In his letter Saturday, Gedion offered a potential olive branch, stating that Addis Ababa remained open to dialogue on “all matters of mutual interest,” including maritime access, provided Eritrea respected Ethiopia’s territorial integrity.

But the situation on the ground remains perilous.

Last month, Ethiopian police announced that they had seized thousands of rounds of ammunition that, they claimed, Eritrea had sent to insurgent groups. Asmara denied the charge, accusing Addis Ababa of “floating false flags” to justify a premeditated war.

Adding to the acrimony, Abiy last week publicly admitted for the first time that Eritrean troops had massacred civilians in the historic city of Aksum during the Tigray war—allegations his government had previously downplayed or denied.

The Eritrean ministry on Monday described the tone of Ethiopia’s latest accusations as “astounding,” questioning the “underlying motivation and overarching objective” of Abiy’s government.

Analysts fear that any renewed conflict between the two heavily militarised nations could destabilise the entire Horn of Africa region, which is already grappling with internal strife in Sudan and Somalia.