Eritrea gained independence in 1993, after several decades of armed conflict. Later, the two-year war from 1998 to 2000 claimed tens of thousands of lives and completely destroyed diplomatic relations.
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Neighboring countries normalized relations in 2018, when Abiy Ahmed took office as Ethiopia’s prime minister, seeking rapprochement, for which he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize the following year.
Eritrean forces supported the Ethiopian federal army during the conflict in the Tigray region. However, after the war ended at the end of 2022, relations deteriorated again, with Eritrea stating that landlocked Ethiopia was encroaching on its port of Assab.
The Eritrean Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement accusing Abiy Ahmed’s Prosperity Party of “actively destabilizing the Horn of Africa.”
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“While Eritrea has maintained strict strategic patience, Addis Ababa has been engaged for more than three years in relentless escalation of belligerent rhetoric; disregards international agreements; and actively accepts, trains, and finances destructive, sectarian intermediary groups with a clear ‘regime change’ agenda against Eritrea,” the statement said.
When contacted by the AFP news agency, the Ethiopian prime minister’s press representative did not immediately respond to the accusations.
Eritrea, ruled with an iron fist by Isaias Afwerki since independence, also accused Addis Ababa of “harboring, supporting, and actively promoting” Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) – a paramilitary group involved since 2023 in a devastating civil war with the regular army.
