Eritrea Appeals to UN Security Council as Tensions with Ethiopia Escalate

Eritrea has appealed to the United Nations Security Council for intervention in its escalating confrontation with Ethiopia, asking the council to condemn what Asmara described as a declaration of war and to impose deterrent measures.

Eritrean Foreign Minister Osman Saleh made the request in a letter to the council under Chapter VII of the UN Charter. He accused Ethiopia of pursuing a war of aggression and warned that the consequences could bring “huge devastation to the peoples of both countries and destabilise the whole region”.

Ethiopia has rejected Eritrea’s account. In its own communication to the Security Council, the Ethiopian government accused Eritrea of launching an “all-out invasion” and said Eritrean troops had moved as far as 60 kilometres into Ethiopia’s Tigray region. The source report did not independently verify whether the reported troop movement occurred.

Conflicting accounts of the fighting

Saleh said the allegations of an Eritrean incursion were part of an Ethiopian effort to justify what he called a war of aggression. Eritrean Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel also accused Ethiopia of aggression linked to its demands for sovereign access to the Red Sea. He did not explicitly confirm or deny reports that Eritrean troops had crossed into Ethiopian territory.

Ethiopia, meanwhile, said Eritrea was supporting armed groups in Tigray, including fighters from the Tigray People’s Liberation Front. The Ethiopian army said it had pushed TPLF fighters back and captured Mekelle. Addis Ababa also reported that it had carried out drone strikes against Eritrean troops in Tigray, although the strikes and their results were not independently verified in the source report.

Ethiopian Foreign Minister Gedion Timothewos described Eritrea’s alleged actions as “a blatant act of aggression that engages Ethiopia’s inherent right to self-defence” under Article 51 of the UN Charter. The source did not specify what measures Ethiopia was taking under that claim.

Red Sea access remains a central dispute

The confrontation has also been linked to Ethiopia’s repeated demand for direct access to the Red Sea. Ethiopia is landlocked, and Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has reiterated that the country must have access to the sea.

Eritrea views Ethiopia’s demand as a threat to its sovereignty and has interpreted it as a possible attempt to seize or obtain access to the port of Assab. The disagreement has added to worsening relations between the two countries, which had improved after Abiy came to power in 2018.

Faisal Roble, speaking to Al Jazeera, said both governments appeared to be moving towards an open conflict. He described the two sides as “preparing for the last phase of an open conflict” and said their communications with the United Nations could be intended to secure international backing. That assessment is an analyst’s opinion rather than an independently verified development.

A history of regional conflict

Eritrea became independent from Ethiopia in 1993. The countries later fought a border war from 1998 to 2000.

More recently, TPLF fighters fought Ethiopian government forces in a devastating war from 2020 to 2022, with Eritrean forces supporting the Ethiopian side. A separate alliance of seven armed groups subsequently launched attacks against Ethiopian federal forces in the north while seeking to overthrow Abiy’s government.

The Security Council’s response to Eritrea’s request was not stated in the source material. Eritrea and Ethiopia continue to offer contradictory accounts of who initiated the latest confrontation.