Djibouti–Eritrea relations refers to the current and historical relationship between neighboring states

Djibouti Djibouti, ar, جيبوتي ', french: link=no, Djibouti, so, Jabuuti officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Somalia to the south, Ethiopia to the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the Red ...

and

Eritrea Eritrea ( ; ti, ኤርትራ, Ertra, ; ar, إرتريا, ʾIritriyā), officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of Eastern Africa, with its capital and largest city at Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia ...

Relations

During the Eritrean-Ethiopian War (1998–2000), Ethiopia channeled most of its trade through Djibouti. Though Djibouti was nominally neutral, it broke off relations with Eritrea in November 1998, renewing relations in 2000. Eritrea's President

Isaias Afwerki Isaias Afwerki ( ti, ኢሳይያስ ኣፍወርቂ, ; born 2 February 1946) is an Eritrean politician and partisan who has been the president of Eritrea since shortly after he led the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF) to victory in M ...

visited Djibouti in early 2001 and Djibouti's President Ismail Omar Guelleh made a reciprocal visit to

Asmara Asmara ( ), or Asmera, is the capital and most populous city of Eritrea, in the country's Central Region. It sits at an elevation of , making it the sixth highest capital in the world by altitude and the second highest capital in Africa. The ...

in the early summer of 2001. While Guelleh has close ties with Ethiopia's ruling

Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front The Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF; am, የኢትዮጵያ ሕዝቦች አብዮታዊ ዲሞክራሲያዊ ግንባር, translit=Ye’Ītiyop’iya Ḥizibochi Ābiyotawī Dīmokirasīyawī Ginibari) was an eth ...

(EPRDF), he has tried to maintain an even hand, developing relations with Eritrea.

Conflict

On June 10, 2008 fighting broke out in the Ras Doumeira region between Djibouti and Eritrea. It resulted in Djiboutian victory and the eventual withdrawal of Eritrean forces from the border areas and the creation of a buffer zone between the two countries. Following the

2017 Qatar diplomatic crisis The Qatar diplomatic crisis was a diplomatic incident in the Middle East that began on 5 June 2017 when Foreign relations of Saudi Arabia#Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the Qatar–United Arab Emirates relations, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain–Qatar relat ...

, Qatar withdrew its peacekeeping forces from the disputed territory. Shortly after, Djibouti accused Eritrea of reoccupying the mainland hill and Doumeira Island. In September 2018, it was announced that

and

agreed to normalize their relations.

References

Bilateral relations of Eritrea {{Bilateralrelations-stub