By Dawit Endeshaw
ADDIS ABABA, Oct 9 (Reuters) – Ethiopia says an “all-out invasion” by Eritrean forces left it with no option but to defend itself, according to a letter to the UN shared with Reuters on Friday, as blasts continued near the border between the two countries.
In the government’s first official statement on reported incursions by Eritrean troops this week that have raised fears of outright war between the Horn of Africa neighbours, Ethiopia’s Foreign Minister Gedion Timothewos said Eritrean forces had advanced up to 60 km (37 miles) into northern Ethiopia’s Tigray region.
The letter, dated Thursday, was addressed to French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot. The senior Ethiopian government official who shared the letter said it was also sent to the other members of the UN Security Council.
Eritrea’s information minister Yemane Gebremeskel did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Friday. On Wednesday, he called reports of an Eritrean incursion part of an Ethiopian plan to justify a war of aggression against his country.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
‘NO OTHER OPTION BUT TO DEFEND ITSELF’
“The all-out invasion of parts of northern Ethiopia by Eritrea is a matter of public record,” the letter said. “It is a blatant act of aggression that engages Ethiopia’s inherent right to self-defence.”
“In this time of difficulty, when Ethiopia is left with no other option but to defend itself, we count on your understanding, support, and solidarity.”
Eritrean soldiers were seen in northern Ethiopia this week, witnesses told Reuters, days after the neighbours severed diplomatic ties.
Drone strikes, believed to have been carried out by Ethiopia’s military, targeted Eritrean forces on Wednesday and Thursday as they withdrew from positions near the northern Tigray town of Adigrat, about 30 km (19 miles) from the border with Eritrea, the US-based conflict monitor ACLED said.
An Adigrat resident told Reuters on Friday that they had heard repeated explosions overnight and into the morning from several kilometres outside town.
RELATIONS SOURED AFTER 2018 PEACE DEAL
Ethiopia has accused Eritrea of backing the rebel alliance battling federal government troops since September 23 in the northern regions of Tigray, Amhara and Afar. Eritrea has denied this.
Eritrea, a former province of Ethiopia, gained independence in 1993, and the two countries fought a major war from 1998-2000.
They made peace in a 2018 agreement that earned Abiy a Nobel Peace Prize. Eritrea fought in support of Ethiopia’s federal government during a 2020-2022 civil war in Tigray, but relations soured again toward the end of that conflict.
Eritrea accuses landlocked Ethiopia of plotting to invade it, pointing to repeated public declarations by Abiy that sea access is vital to his country’s security and economy.
Abiy has said Ethiopia aims to gain sea access peacefully.
The fighting that broke out last month has been the biggest escalation of violence since the Tigray war, which caused hundreds of thousands of deaths.
It has raised fears that unrest could spread more widely across the Horn of Africa, where a devastating three-year civil war in Sudan has also drawn in foreign powers, with the impact spilling across borders.
(Writing by Aaron Ross; Editing by Silvia Aloisi, Peter Graff and Aidan Lewis)
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