Eritrea–Ethiopia Relations

Relations between Eritrea and Ethiopia have been 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'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 was strengthened in 2020 with Eritrean troops reportedly assisting the Ethiopian Army in the Tigray Conflict, but have since deteriorated as Eritrea has backed Somalia during the current escalations of the Ethiopian–Somali conflict.

History

Early relations

The territories of present-day Ethiopia and Eritrea are closely linked since ancient times. The ancient Kingdom of Aksum, which existed from the 1st century AD to the early Middle Ages, encompassed parts of both countries. In the highlands of present-day Eritrea, the Kingdom of Medri Bahri (Bahri Negassi) existed from the 15th century onwards. As a Christian vassal state, it enjoyed considerable autonomy from the Abyssinian Empire for a time. At the same time, the Eritrean coastal regions were subject to foreign powers for a long time from the 16th century onwards: the Ottoman Empire occupied the port city of Massawa and controlled the islands and coasts of the Red Sea with interruptions for over three centuries. In the 19th century, Egyptian troops also extended their influence to Eritrea, but were defeated by an Ethiopian army on the Mareb River in 1875. Towards the end of the 19th century, Eritrea became the focus of Italy's colonial ambitions. The Italian shipping company Rubattino acquired the coastal area around Assab in 1869, which became the property of the Italian state in 1882. In 1885, Italian troops occupied the port city of Massawa and began the gradual conquest of the Eritrean hinterland from there.

Colonial era

Italy's expansion in the Horn of Africa led to conflict with Abyssinia (now Ethiopia). Emperor Yohannes IV initially resisted, but his successor, Menelik II, recognized Italian rule over the territories north of the Mereb River in the Treaty of Wuchale in 1889. When Italian troops attempted to advance from Eritrea into Abyssinia, they were decisively defeated by Menelik's army on March 1, 1896, in the Battle of Adwa. In the Treaty of Addis Ababa in 1896, Italy recognized Abyssinia's independence. In October 1935, fascist Italy launched an invasion of independent Ethiopia from Eritrea and Italian Somaliland. Ethiopia was defeated in 1936 and incorporated into the newly created Italian East Africa. However, this union was short-lived: During the World War II, British troops conquered both Eritrea and Ethiopia in 1941, ending Italian rule over both countries. Eritrea then came under British military administration. After the end of the war, discussions arose about the future of Eritrea, with proposals ranging from integration into the Ethiopian state to complete independence.

Province of Eritrea and independence war

On December 2, 1950, the UN General Assembly voted to federate Eritrea with Ethiopia. This federation came into effect in 1952, making Eritrea an autonomous province with its own parliament. However, autonomy was gradually eroded: Emperor Haile Selassie abolished important federal provisions in the following years. 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. In 1960, the Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF) began an armed guerrilla war against Ethiopian rule. In the decades that followed, the conflict escalated into a protracted war of independence. After Haile Selassie was overthrown in 1974, the Marxist Derg regime in Addis Ababa continued the war against Eritrean rebels with great severity. Various liberation movements (from 1970 onwards, primarily the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF) under Isaias Afwerki) controlled large parts of the country at times. Finally, in 1991, the Eritrean independence fighters achieved complete military victory. The EPLF captured the capital Asmara in May 1991, making Eritrea de facto independent. Eritrea's independence was formally recognised when it was admitted into the UN after a referendum in 1993.

Secession of Eritrea

On May 24, 1993, Eritrea was officially established as a sovereign state and recognized internationally. Ethiopia's transitional government under Meles Zenawi accepted the referendum result and immediately established diplomatic relations with the new state. In the first years after the secession, bilateral relations were friendly. The ruling Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) in Ethiopia and the military government in Eritrea had been former allies in the fight against the Derg dictatorship and signed agreements on economic cooperation. Ethiopia, which now no longer had its own access to the sea, continued to use the Eritrean ports of Assab and Massawa for its foreign trade. In the mid-1990s, however, simmering tensions came to the surface. Disagreements over trade, currency, and the exact border demarcation strained relations. In 1997, Eritrea introduced its own currency, leading to economic conflicts with Ethiopia. In May 1998, border incidents in the Badme region escalated into open military conflict between the two states.

Eritrean–Ethiopian War

The Eritrean-Ethiopian border war from 1998 to 2000 was one of the bloodiest conflicts in Africa since the end of the Cold War. Over the course of two years of intense fighting, an estimated 70,000 to 80,000 people were killed. The war began with fighting over the disputed border town of Badme and spread along the entire border, with fierce battles over largely worthless and arid land. In December 2000, the Algiers Agreement, brokered by the African Union, officially ended the fighting. Both sides committed themselves to recognizing an independent border arbitration commission. To monitor the ceasefire, the United Nations stationed a peacekeeping mission (UNMEE) in the buffer zone between Eritrea and Ethiopia. In April 2002, the Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission (EEBC) established a binding border, awarding Badme to Eritrea. However, Ethiopia refused to recognize the decision. As a result, the border remained unresolved and the peace agreement was only partially implemented.

Cold peace between 2000 to 2018

From 2000 to 2018, both countries remained in a state of hostile relations without a formal peace agreement. All diplomatic ties were severed, border crossings closed, and telephone and postal connections interrupted. Disagreements following the war have resulted in stalemate punctuated by periods of elevated tension and renewed threats of war. Eritrea maintained 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. had prior knowledge of the attack, an accusation denied by US officials.

Peace agreement

At a summit on 8 July 2018 in Asmara, Eritrean President Isaias Afewerki 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. Another peace agreement was signed in Jeddah, 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.

Five years after the start of the Tigray War, a section of the border between Eritrea and Ethiopia was reopened at Zalambessa. This event marked the first gathering of Eritrean and Tigrayan frontier communities since the war, offering a symbolic moment of peace and reconciliation. Organised by local activists with tacit approval from Tigrayan and Eritrean officials, the reunion brought families and religious leaders together and even reignited cross-border trade using both currencies. Despite this move the official Eritrea–Ethiopia border remains closed and deep political tensions persist.

Tigray war and new hostilities

However, the rapprochement between Asmara and Addis Ababa was not without setbacks. From 2020 onwards, a new civil war shook the Ethiopian region of Tigray, whose ruling clique (the TPLF) had become Eritrea's arch rival. Eritrean troops intervened in the Tigray war on the side of the Ethiopian central government and fought fiercely against the TPLF. The conflict ended in November 2022 with a peace agreement ( Pretoria Agreement) between the Ethiopian government and the TPLF – but without Eritrea's involvement. Eritrea's Afwerki rejected the peace agreement and felt betrayed, which led to new conflicts with Addis Ababa. Eritrea then began arming rebels in Amhara, which increased tensions with the Ethiopian government. Abiy Ahmed also repeatedly announced publicly that he would seek direct access to the sea for Ethiopia, which was perceived as a threat in Asmara, bringing both countries to the brink of armed conflict again in 2024/25. In February 2025, Eritrea banned Ethiopian Airlines flights to Asmara and carried out a military mobilization.

Societal and cultural relations

Despite political tensions, Ethiopia and Eritrea have close cultural and historical ties. Both nations share the heritage of the ancient Aksum Empire, which introduced Christianity as the state religion in the 4th century. The Ethiopian Orthodox and Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo churches trace their roots back to this common heritage. There are also close linguistic and ethnic ties: the Tigrinya ethnic group, which dominates Eritrea, is closely related to the Tigray in Ethiopia, and the Tigrinya language is spoken on both sides of the border. Overall, the social structures of both countries show many similarities (for example in music, dance, and cuisine). The cultural and family ties between the two nations have been severely damaged at times by war and separation. Hundreds of thousands of people with Eritrean roots lived in Ethiopia before 1998 and were expelled during the border war; conversely, many Ethiopians fled to Eritrea to escape the fighting. It was only with the conclusion of peace in 2018 that torn families and communities were able to reunite.

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).

Resident diplomatic missions

* Eritrea has an embassy in Addis Ababa.
* Ethiopia has an embassy in Asmara.

Country comparison

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eritrea-Ethiopia relations

Ethiopia
Bilateral relations of Ethiopia