Relations between
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 ...
and
Ethiopia are historically adversarial. Eritrea gained independence from Ethiopia in 1993 after the
Eritrean War of Independence, after which relations were cordial. Since independence Eritrea's relationship with Ethiopia was entirely political, especially in the resuscitation and expansion of
IGAD
The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) is an eight-country trade bloc in Africa. It includes governments from the Horn of Africa, Nile Valley and the African Great Lakes. It is headquartered in Djibouti (city), Djibouti.
Member s ...
's scope. However, the 1998
Eritrean–Ethiopian War marked a turning point, and their relationship became
increasingly hostile.
Upon the selection of
Abiy Ahmed as Ethiopian Prime Minister, a
peace agreement was forged, and ties between the neighbouring countries were re-established on 9 July 2018. The alliance between the two countries has been strengthened since then, with Eritrean troops reportedly assisting the Ethiopian Army in the
Tigray Conflict in 2020.
Country comparison
Diplomatic-political relations
History
While Ethiopia remained independent during the colonial conquests of Africa, Italy created a colony called Eritrea around Asmara in the 19th century. After World War II and Italy's defeat, Britain occupied Eritrea. Eritrea was then federated with Ethiopia in 1952 by the ratification of UN General Assembly Resolution 390, which ignored the independence desires of the Eritrean people.
In the late 1950s, Eritreans began organising an armed rebellion from their base in Cairo. In 1962, Ethiopian
Emperor Haile Selassie unilaterally dissolved the federation and annexed Eritrea, triggering a war that would last three decades.
Eritrea seceded from Ethiopia through their
war of independence (1961-1991). Eritrea's independence was formally recognised when it was admitted into the UN after a
referendum in 1993.
In December 2000, Eritrea and Ethiopia signed a
peace treaty
A peace treaty is an agreement between two or more hostile parties, usually countries or governments, which formally ends a state of war between the parties. It is different from an armistice, which is an agreement to stop hostilities; a surr ...
ending their war and created a pair of binding judicial commissions, the Eritrea-Ethiopia Border Commission and the Eritrean-Ethiopian Claims Commission, to rule on their disputed border and related claims. In April 2002 The Commission released its decision (with a clarification in 2003). Disagreements following the war have resulted in stalemate punctuated by periods of elevated tension and renewed threats of war.
Since these decisions Ethiopia has refused to permit the physical demarcation of the border while Eritrea insists the border must be demarcated as defined by the commission. Consequently, the Boundary Commission ruled boundary as virtually demarcated and effective.
Eritrea maintains a military force on its border with Ethiopia roughly equal in size to Ethiopia's force, which has required a general mobilization of a significant portion of the population. Eritrea has viewed this border dispute as an existential threat to itself in particular and the African Union in general, because it deals with the supremacy of colonial boundaries in Africa. Since the border conflict Ethiopia no longer uses Eritrean ports for its trade.
During the border conflict and since, Ethiopia has fostered militants against Eritrea (including ethnic separatists and religiously based organizations). Eritrea has retaliated by hosting militant groups against Ethiopia as well. The United Nations Security Council argues that Eritrea and Ethiopia have expanded their dispute to a second theater,
Somalia.
In March 2012, Ethiopia attacked Eritrean army outposts along the border. Addis Ababa said the assault was in retaliation for the training and support given by Asmara to subversives while Eritrea said the U.S. knew of the attacks, an accusation denied by US officials.
Abiy Ahmed premiership
At
a summit on 8 July 2018 in
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 ...
, Eritrean President
Isaias Afewerki
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 ...
and Ethiopian
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed pledged to restore diplomatic relations and open their borders to each other. The next day, they signed a joint declaration formally ending the
Eritrean–Ethiopian border conflict
The Eritrean–Ethiopian border conflict was a violent standoff and a proxy conflict between Eritrea and Ethiopia lasting from 1998 to 2018. It consisted of a series of incidents along the then-disputed border; including the Eritrean–Ethiopian ...
. Another peace agreement was signed in
Jeddah
Jeddah ( ), also spelled Jedda, Jiddah or Jidda ( ; ar, , Jidda, ), is a city in the Hejaz region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and the country's commercial center. Established in the 6th century BC as a fishing village, Jeddah's pro ...
,
Saudi Arabia on 16 September later that year.
In September 2018, the increased close contacts of senior leadership in the Eritrea–Ethiopia relationship extended to the
Tripartite Agreement that also included
Somalia.
Martin Plaut suggested that during a January 2020 trilateral meeting and bilateral Eritrea–Ethiopia visits in 2020, the leaders of the three countries discussed plans for the
Tigray War prior to its official start with the
4 November 2020 Northern Command attacks.
Resident diplomatic missions
* Eritrea has an embassy in
Addis Ababa.
* Ethiopia has an embassy in
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 ...
.
Societal and cultural relations
Ethiopian-Eritreans Community Organizations and the Habesha Community
Throughout the Ethiopian-Eritrean Diaspora, there have been many multi-ethnic and bi-national origin community organizations founded by and for Eritreans and Ethiopians to foster good relationships, promote and express cultural commonalities well before diplomatic ties between the two countries's governments were ever restored. A majority of these organizations are found on college/university campuses throughout the United States, Canada, and other parts of the Ethiopian-Eritrean Diaspora.
[Afeworki, N. G. (2018). Eritrean nationalism and the digital diaspora: Expanding diasporic networks via twitter (Order No. 10745022). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (2015164934).]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eritrea-Ethiopia relations
Ethiopia
Bilateral relations of Ethiopia