Ethiopia closes its Asmara embassy and Eritrea cuts the relationship

Ethiopia said on Thursday, 1 October, that it was closing its embassy in Asmara and that 10 Eritrean diplomats, whom it did not name, had 48 hours to leave the country. Eritrea's foreign ministry answered that it had no option but to reciprocate and sever all diplomatic ties, warning of what it called negative corollaries. The exchange ended the formal channel that had survived, unevenly, since the two governments made peace in 2018.

The Ethiopian foreign ministry posted the decision on its X account and tied it to what it called Eritrea's direct and indirect acts of hostility. Eritrea's information minister, Yemane Gebremeskel, told Reuters that expelling the diplomats amounted to closing the Eritrean embassy in Addis Ababa as well. Asmara called the expulsion of its ambassador astounding. It denied any part in the fighting in Tigray and said Ethiopia's Prosperity Party was blaming neighbours to draw attention away from problems at home.

Blasts, then a second expulsion

The diplomatic notices came hours after explosions were heard overnight in Addis Ababa, including near the military headquarters. Three diplomatic sources confirmed the blasts to Reuters. Witnesses told the agency they saw no visible damage near the base. A source linked to an opposition alliance said the alliance had carried out drone strikes in the capital, some aimed at the military headquarters. If that claim holds, it would be the first known drone attack by anti-government forces on Addis Ababa, hundreds of kilometres from the front in Tigray, Amhara and Afar. The government had not confirmed a strike on the capital when the embassy decision was published.

Ethiopia also declared an Egyptian diplomat persona non grata and gave him 48 hours to leave. The state broadcaster and two people familiar with the case reported the order. Egypt's reason was not stated in public. State-affiliated Al Qahera News said Cairo then ordered an Ethiopian embassy official to leave within 48 hours. The Egyptian step sits beside the Eritrean one. Addis Ababa has a separate, older dispute with Cairo over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. Thursday's expulsion was not explained as a dam measure.

The northern map

Fighting resumed in northern Ethiopia last week at a scale the BBC described as the largest since the 2020-2022 war, in which hundreds of thousands of people were killed. Eritrea fought on the federal side in that war. It is now accused by Addis Ababa of backing a new rebel alliance. Asmara denies that. A pro-government militia commander told the BBC that Eritrean soldiers were on front lines in Tigray. The BBC said it had not verified that claim.

The same militia said it had taken Milazat, about 20 kilometres south-east of Mekelle, the Tigray capital. The BBC said it could not confirm the seizure. Separately, AFP reported that federal forces had pushed Tigray People's Liberation Front fighters out of Afar and retaken Abala, Erebti and Megale. A doctor told the BBC that at least 52 civilians were killed in Alamata over three days of fighting. The broader count given by the BBC was more than 50 people killed since the heavy fighting restarted. Those two figures should not be added together. One is a local hospital account, the other a week-long regional estimate.

Each side says the other started this round. The TPLF says it is answering a federal offensive and drone strikes. Addis Ababa says Tigrayan fighters attacked after taking control of airports in Tigray that the federal government administers. Neither account has been tested in a forum both sides accept.

What the break removes

Closing an embassy does not stop a war. It removes the office that would normally handle detained nationals, overflight complaints and military messages that governments do not want to put on a public channel. Ethiopia and Eritrea already fought a border war from 1998 to 2000. The 2018 rapprochement, and Eritrea's later role against the TPLF, were the exception. Thursday's language from both foreign ministries puts that exception on paper as over.

The practical test in the next two days is narrow. The 10 Eritrean diplomats were given 48 hours. Egypt and Ethiopia exchanged matching expulsion clocks. If those people leave on time, the break is administrative as well as rhetorical. If fighting around Mekelle or in Afar produces a confirmed town changing hands, the diplomatic cut will be read as cover for a wider front rather than as a substitute for one. Milazat remains an unverified claim. Abala, Erebti and Megale are the places AFP has already put back under federal control.