Ethiopia-Eritrea: Diplomatic relations severed and ten diplomats expelled from Addis Ababa

The Eritrean Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on October 1, 2026, the severance of all diplomatic ties with Ethiopia, on the same day that Addis Ababa declared it was closing its embassy in Asmara. The two neighbors in the Horn of Africa, who had reconciled in 2018, now find themselves without an official channel at a time when fighting is intensifying in northern Ethiopia.

According to Al Jazeera, Ethiopia has declared ten Eritrean diplomats persona non grata, including the chargé d'affaires and representatives accredited to the African Union, giving them forty-eight hours to leave the country. An Egyptian diplomat was also expelled; Cairo retaliated by declaring an advisor at the Ethiopian embassy undesirable. Eritrea stated it had "no option" other than reciprocity, reports Africanews.

Three neighbors implicated

Addis Ababa accuses Eritrea, Sudan, and Egypt of supporting the opposition alliance led by the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF). Asmara has described these allegations as astonishing and asserts that it is Ethiopia that is pursuing a policy of hostility, again according to Al Jazeera. None of these cross-accusations have been publicly supported by evidence, and they remain at this stage state assertions.

Tigray under arms once again

Clashes resumed at the end of September 2026, according to Africanews, which reports hundreds of deaths and injuries, thousands of displaced people in the Tigray, Afar, and Amhara regions, as well as an explosion targeting a military site in Addis Ababa. Doctors Without Borders indicates that "more than 700 wounded" have been treated in hospitals across several areas of Tigray.

What history has already cost

Ethiopia and Eritrea fought a border war from 1998 to 2000 that left tens of thousands dead. The rapprochement initiated in 2018 by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed earned him the Nobel Peace Prize. The cessation of hostilities agreement signed in Pretoria in November 2022, which ended two years of war in Tigray, did not include Eritrea: this absence, denounced at the time by several analysts on the continent, is weighing heavily today.

For Africa, the stakes go beyond the two capitals. The African Union, headquartered in Addis Ababa, was the architect of the Pretoria agreement; the diplomatic paralysis between two of its member states is playing out at its doorstep. The Horn of Africa, already affected by the war in Sudan and instability in Somalia, cannot afford a new inter-state front: it is up to African institutions, and not external sponsors, to reopen a negotiating table.