Eritrea: Asmara demands UN sanctions against Ethiopia, first flight to Mekele on October 11

Eritrea appealed to the United Nations Security Council on October 10, 2026, to demand that Ethiopia be condemned and that "deterrent measures" be taken against it. According to Al Jazeera, which cites the letter from Eritrean Foreign Minister Osman Saleh, Asmara is invoking Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, which authorizes the use of sanctions as well as armed force.

Osman Saleh asserts that Ethiopian accusations of Eritrean incursions are being used to justify a "war of aggression." The day before, on October 9, Addis Ababa had written to the same Council to denounce a "total invasion" and maintain that Eritrean troops had penetrated up to 60 kilometers inside Tigray. The Ethiopian head of diplomacy, Gedion Timothewos, spoke of a "flagrant act of aggression" and invoked Article 51 on self-defense, without specifying what measures his country was taking.

Two letters, no African mediation

On the ground, the Ethiopian army pushed back TPLF fighters this week, retaking the regional capital Mekele, and said it had carried out drone strikes against Eritrean soldiers, reports Al Jazeera. Last month, an alliance of seven armed groups had attacked federal forces in Tigray to overthrow Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. Addis Ababa accuses Eritrea of supporting the TPLF.

The two capitals are therefore addressing the Security Council rather than the continent's institutions, even though the headquarters of the African Union is located in Addis Ababa itself. For Horn of Africa analyst Faisal Roble, interviewed from Nairobi by Al Jazeera, both sides are heading toward open conflict and their UN letters are a matter of "posturing."

Flights resume to Mekele

Ethiopian Airlines announced the resumption of its flights to Mekele on October 11, 2026, with ticket sales having opened on October 9, according to Africanews. The national carrier had suspended its routes to Mekele, Shire, and Axum on September 23, 2026, citing the "current situation" in Tigray. Flights to Shire and Axum remain suspended, and security remains unstable.

At the heart of the dispute is access to the sea. On October 5, 2026, Abiy Ahmed reiterated that Ethiopia, which has been landlocked since Eritrean independence in 1993, must obtain access to the Red Sea. Asmara views this as a threat to its port of Assab. Eritrean Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel accused Ethiopia of aggression on this subject on X on October 9.

The two neighbors previously clashed from 1998 to 2000. The rapprochement initiated after Abiy Ahmed came to power in 2018 has shattered, and it is the same populations in Tigray and southern Eritrea who are paying the price.