Ethiopia and Eritrea have severed diplomatic relations as renewed fighting in northern Ethiopia raises fears that conflict could spread across the Horn of Africa. Ethiopia closed its embassy in Asmara and ordered 10 Eritrean diplomats to leave, prompting Eritrea to announce on October 1 that it was ending diplomatic ties with its neighbor.
The diplomatic rupture comes as Ethiopian federal forces battle an opposition alliance led by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front. Fighting has spread across parts of Tigray and neighboring Afar, placing fresh pressure on the Pretoria peace agreement signed on November 2, 2022, which ended two years of devastating war between Ethiopia’s government and Tigrayan forces.
For civilians, the return of fighting has quickly disrupted daily life. Residents in Tigray have faced shortages of cash and fuel, interrupted phone and internet services and difficulties travelling between communities. Flights have also been affected after Tigrayan forces seized airports in Mekelle, Axum and Shire, leaving families uncertain about when normal transport will resume.
The fear is especially acute among people who never fully recovered from the previous war. More than 16,000 displaced people remain in camps in Tigray, and some now face the prospect of being uprooted again. In the wider region, residents have stocked up on food and cash as memories of earlier shortages and humanitarian restrictions return.
Hospitals are also feeling the impact. Médecins Sans Frontières has reported hundreds of wounded people arriving for treatment in Korem, Alamata and Shire during the latest clashes. Humanitarian workers have warned that renewed displacement and disrupted transport could make it increasingly difficult to deliver food, medicine and other essential supplies.
Government aligned forces said they retook Alamata, a strategically important town about 120 kilometres south of Mekelle, after an offensive by opposition fighters. The town sits along a key route connecting Tigray with Amhara and other parts of Ethiopia, making control of the area important for both military movements and civilian transport.
The conflict has also become entangled with wider regional rivalries. Ethiopia’s army chief, Field Marshal Birhanu Jula, has accused Eritrea, Sudan and Egypt of supporting forces fighting the federal government. Eritrea and Sudan have rejected accusations of involvement. Ethiopia and Egypt are also locked in a longstanding dispute over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile, which Addis Ababa views as central to its development while Cairo has raised concerns about its water security.
The breakdown between Ethiopia and Eritrea represents a striking reversal in their relationship. Eritrean troops fought alongside Ethiopian federal forces against the TPLF during the 2020 to 2022 war. Only a few years earlier, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki had restored relations in 2018 after two decades of hostility following their countries’ border war.
Those ties later deteriorated as political differences resurfaced and Ethiopia intensified its push for more reliable access to the Red Sea. Ethiopia, the world’s most populous landlocked country, relies heavily on neighboring Djibouti for international shipping. Questions over ports, borders and regional influence have since added pressure to already fragile relations across the Horn of Africa.
The African Union has urged Ethiopia, Eritrea and Egypt to exercise maximum restraint and avoid actions or statements that could deepen the crisis. The African Union Commission said the countries should keep diplomatic channels open and resolve their differences through peaceful dialogue. The organization has also reaffirmed that the 2022 Pretoria agreement remains the foundation for peace between Ethiopia’s government and Tigrayan leaders.
For families across Tigray, however, the crisis is measured less in diplomatic statements than in cancelled flights, closed roads, empty fuel stations and the fear of being displaced again. Many people had only recently begun rebuilding homes, reopening businesses and sending children back to school after the previous war.
The return of fighting has now brought back questions many hoped had been left behind. For civilians who survived the 2020 to 2022 conflict, the greatest fear is not simply another political confrontation, but that a war they believed had ended could once again reshape their homes, livelihoods and families.
