Ethiopia told the United Nations Security Council on Friday that it has “no option” but to defend itself against what it called an “all-out invasion” by neighboring Eritrea, raising fears of outright war between the two Horn of Africa rivals.
In a letter to the council shared with Reuters, Ethiopian Foreign Minister Gedion Timothewos said Eritrean forces — including mechanized units — had deployed up to 60 kilometers (37 miles) into northern Ethiopia. The letter was the government’s first official statement on reported incursions by Eritrean troops this week.
The letter called the presence of Eritrean troops on Ethiopian soil “a blatant act of aggression that engages Ethiopia’s inherent right to self-defence,” adding that “the all-out invasion of parts of northern Ethiopia by Eritrea is a matter of public record.”
Witnesses told Reuters this week that Eritrean soldiers had been seen in northern Ethiopia, and residents of Adigrat told the BBC they had seen truckloads of Eritrean soldiers moving south into Ethiopia’s Tigray region. The Associated Press reported that a commander allied with Ethiopia’s government said Eritrean troops had entered Adigrat and Idaga Hamus — an account the AP said it could not independently verify.
Eritrea has denied the incursion. Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel did not respond to a request for comment Friday; on Wednesday he called reports of an Eritrean incursion part of an Ethiopian plan to justify a war of aggression against his country.
The escalation follows the severing of diplomatic ties between the two countries last week. Ethiopia accuses Eritrea of backing a rebel alliance battling federal government troops since September 23 in the northern regions of Tigray, Amhara and Afar — an accusation Eritrea denies.
On Thursday, a conflict monitor reported that drone strikes, believed to have been carried out by Ethiopia’s military, targeted Eritrean military vehicles near Adigrat as they withdrew. In a meeting Thursday with the U.N.’s deputy secretary-general, Ethiopia’s foreign minister called for the immediate withdrawal of Eritrean forces and reaffirmed Ethiopia’s right to defend its sovereignty.
