Eritrea Cuts Diplomatic Ties With Ethiopia

Eritrea has severed diplomatic ties with neighbouring Ethiopia after Addis Ababa expelled 10 Eritrean diplomats and announced the closure of its embassy in Asmara. Eritrea’s Foreign Ministry said on Thursday that it had “no option but to reciprocate in kind and sever all diplomatic ties with Ethiopia”.

The move followed Ethiopia’s decision to declare 10 Eritrean diplomats in Addis Ababa persona non grata and order them to leave the country within 48 hours.

Ethiopia’s Foreign Ministry said the diplomats had been involved in activities that posed a direct threat to the country’s national security. It also said the decision to close its embassy in Asmara was in response to what it described as Eritrea’s “direct and indirect acts of hostility and belligerence” towards Ethiopia.

Eritrea rejected Ethiopia’s allegations, with its Foreign Ministry saying Addis Ababa’s claims were part of a broader pattern of hostility between the two countries.

The diplomatic rupture comes as fighting has intensified in northern Ethiopia, where Ethiopian federal forces are battling an alliance of armed opposition groups led by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front.

Ethiopia has accused Eritrea, as well as Sudan and Egypt, of supporting the opposition alliance. The countries have denied the allegations.

The latest diplomatic measures mark a sharp deterioration in relations between the two neighbours, which restored diplomatic ties in 2018 after years of hostility.

SOURCE: TRTAfrika