Tensions between Ethiopia and Eritrea have sharply escalated after Ethiopian Foreign Minister Gedion Timothewos sent a letter to UN Secretary-General António Guterres, formally accusing Eritrea of preparing to wage a proxy war against Addis Ababa. The letter alleges a “clear collusion” with a hardline faction of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), claiming the alliance is “funding, mobilizing and directing armed groups” in Ethiopia’s turbulent Amhara region. Specifically, the foreign minister accused the “Tsimdo” alliance of supporting Fano militias in their efforts to capture the Amhara town of Woldiya in September, asserting that TPLF commanders and fighters “actively participated in the offensive.”
The underlying flashpoint for this animosity is landlocked Ethiopia’s renewed diplomatic and political push to regain access to the Red Sea, which it lost when Eritrea gained independence in 1993. Ethiopia’s President Taye Atske Selassie recently described Red Sea access as “essential to our country’s existence.” Eritrea views this ambition as an existential threat, with its Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel dismissing the rhetoric as “bizarre and mind-boggling,” and accusing Ethiopia of using the threat of war as a pretext to destabilize its neighbor.
This exchange signals a complete breakdown of the fragile peace established in 2018. While the Debretsion-led TPLF faction dismissed the foreign minister’s letter as “fabricated stories and smear campaigns” designed to divert attention from the federal government’s failure to fully implement the 2022 peace deal in Tigray, the accusations highlight a renewed and complex web of alliances in the Horn of Africa. The growing proxy conflict, characterized by mutual accusations of aggression and support for internal rebels, raises alarm bells about a potential large-scale conflict that no one, especially the people of Tigray, can handle.
