Ethiopia warns Eritrea it will defend itself after troops cross border

What the report says

Ethiopia has accused Eritrea of sending troops into its northern Tigray region and warned that it will defend its territory, according to BBC Africa. In a letter to the UN Security Council, Ethiopia’s foreign minister described the reported incursion as an act of aggression, while Eritrea rejected the charge and said it was responding to an unprovoked attack.

The BBC reports that residents and witnesses said Eritrean soldiers crossed into Ethiopia and that truckloads of troops were seen moving into the area. Ethiopia also said Eritrean forces had advanced deeply into Tigray, and conflict monitoring group ACLED said multiple drone strikes hit Eritrean troops and ammunition in the town of Adigrat. Witness accounts cited by AFP suggested some Eritrean vehicles were destroyed and that forces may have begun pulling back north.

The latest escalation comes against the backdrop of renewed fighting in Tigray involving the Ethiopian government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, or TPLF. Both sides accuse each other of breaking the 2022 peace arrangement that ended Ethiopia’s civil war. Ethiopia says Eritrea supports the TPLF, which Eritrea denies.

The dispute matters because it raises fears of a broader regional conflict between two neighbors whose ties have deteriorated sharply after a brief period of normalization in 2018. The BBC notes that the situation is especially sensitive given Ethiopia’s recent military gains in Tigray and the breakdown in diplomatic relations last week.