Eritrea and Ethiopia sever diplomatic ties amid escalating hostility

Eritrea has severed all diplomatic ties with Ethiopia after a rapid exchange of expulsions and embassy closures between the two neighbours. Ethiopia said it will close its embassy in Asmara and declared 10 Eritrean diplomats persona non grata, ordering them to leave within 48 hours. The move comes as fighting involving Ethiopia's federal forces and a coalition of armed opposition groups intensifies.

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Eritrea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it had "no option" but to reciprocate and break diplomatic relations, describing the consequences as significant. Ethiopia said the Eritrean diplomats, including the charge d'affaires and officials accredited to the African Union, were involved in activities that posed a direct threat to national security. Eritrea rejected the accusations as "astounding" and said Ethiopia had pursued an agenda of "incessant hostility".

The dispute has sharpened alongside renewed clashes in Ethiopia, where explosions were heard in Addis Ababa on Wednesday and Thursday, according to the supplied report. Fighting has also been reported in the northern Afar region, and the chief administrator there said Eritrean soldiers had crossed into Afar to join the offensive. The row is now tied directly to the wider security crisis, rather than remaining a purely diplomatic disagreement.

The rupture matters because it involves two states with a long and volatile history, and because both sides are linking diplomacy to battlefield developments. Ethiopia accused Eritrea, Sudan and Egypt of supporting an opposition alliance led by the Tigray People's Liberation Front, while Eritrea accused Ethiopia of hosting, training and arming Eritrean opposition groups. Those claims, if sustained, point to a widening regional confrontation with implications beyond the bilateral relationship.

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The latest escalation also follows the 2020-2022 civil war in Ethiopia, which ended only after a major conflict that reshaped relations in the Horn of Africa. Eritrea fought alongside Ethiopia's federal government during that war, but the relationship has since deteriorated. The current fighting is described in the supplied material as the biggest escalation since that conflict ended, underlining how quickly the security environment has worsened.

What remains unclear is whether the diplomatic break will lead to further military or economic measures, or whether any third-party mediation will emerge. The immediate focus is on the ordered departure of the Eritrean diplomats and the closure of Ethiopia's embassy in Asmara. The next developments to watch are whether the fighting in Afar and elsewhere expands further and whether either government issues additional formal steps.

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