Ethiopia claims Eritrea is readying to ‘wage war’ against it

In a missive to the UN, Ethiopia’s overseas curate claims Eritrea is colluding with a Tigray-based absorption group.

Ethiopia has accused Eritrea’s authorities of moving with an absorption radical based successful Ethiopia’s bluish Tigray portion to hole for a subject offensive, underscoring concerns of renewed struggle successful the region.

Ethiopia’s Foreign Minister Gedion Timothewos made the assertion successful a missive appealing to United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, cited by the AFP quality bureau and Ethiopian media connected Wednesday.

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In the letter, Timothewos claims determination is wide “collusion” betwixt Eritrea’s authorities and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), a once-dominant governmental unit successful Ethiopia that fought a two-year civilian warfare with Addis Ababa, ending successful 2022.

“The collusion betwixt the Eritrean authorities and the TPLF has go much evident implicit the past fewer months,” said the letter, quoted by AFP. “The hardliner faction of the TPLF and the Eritrean authorities are actively preparing to wage warfare against Ethiopia.”

In the letter, Addis Ababa besides accuses Asmara and the TPLF of “funding, mobilising and directing equipped groups” successful the bluish Amhara region, wherever the federal service has been facing rebels for respective years.

The connection speaks to deteriorating relations betwixt neighbouring Ethiopia and Eritrea, which person a decades-long bloody history.

After Eritrea gained independency from Ethiopia successful 1993, a border war erupted betwixt the 2 Horn of Africa countries from 1998 to 2000, leaving tens of thousands dead.

Relations thawed successful 2018 aft Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed came to power, with the Eritrean service supporting Ethiopian national forces successful the 2020-2022 Tigray War.

Since the struggle ended, relations person again taken a belligerent turn, with Asmara accusing its landlocked neighbour of eyeing the Assab larboard connected the Red Sea successful southeastern Eritrea.

Abiy has repeatedly expressed hopes for Ethiopia to regain oversea access, mislaid legally aft Eritrea’s independence.

Timothewos, successful his missive to Guterres, said Addis Ababa wants “to prosecute successful bully religion negotiations with the authorities of Eritrea” and has a imaginativeness of “shared prosperity done integration that preserves the territorial integrity and sovereignty of some states”.

He accused Asmara of trying “to warrant its sinister machinations against Ethiopia by claiming that it feels threatened by Ethiopia’s quest to summation entree to the sea”.

Eritrea, 1 of Africa’s slightest populated and astir insular countries, with astir 3.5 cardinal people, has successful caller months strengthened ties with Egypt, which besides has strained relations with Ethiopia implicit h2o resources.