Ethiopia's foreign ministry has formally accused neighbouring Eritrea of military aggression and of providing material assistance to armed groups operating inside Ethiopian territory, according to a letter dated February 7 that was seen by Reuters and verified by Ethiopia's foreign ministry.
The letter, authored by Foreign Minister Gedion Timothewos and addressed to his Eritrean counterpart Osman Saleh, states that Eritrean forces have occupied parts of the shared border for an extended period. It alleges that those forces have gone beyond mere positioning and have materially supported militants inside Ethiopia.
"The incursion of Eritrean troops further into Ethiopian territory... are not just provocations but acts of outright aggression," the letter said, according to the copy reviewed by Reuters.
Gedion's note called for an immediate withdrawal of Eritrean forces from occupied areas and demanded an end to all cooperation with armed groups. He warned that recent developments appeared to signal "further escalation," and cited joint military manoeuvres between Eritrean forces and Ethiopian armed groups near the northwestern border as evidence.
The two countries, which fought a full-scale war from 1998 to 2000, signed a peace agreement in 2018 and later presented a united front during Ethiopia's two-year conflict with regional authorities in the northern Tigray region. However, Eritrea was not a party to the 2022 accord that formally ended that Tigray conflict, and relations between Addis Ababa and Asmara have deteriorated since then.
An Eritrean government spokesperson told Reuters that officials were checking whether the letter had been delivered to its foreign ministry.
In his letter, Gedion reiterated that Ethiopia remains open to dialogue provided Eritrea respects Ethiopia's territorial integrity. The foreign minister said Addis Ababa was prepared to engage in good-faith negotiations on a range of bilateral matters, including maritime issues and Ethiopia's potential access to the Red Sea via the Eritrean port of Assab.
The letter also referenced public statements by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed asserting that landlocked Ethiopia has a right to sea access. Eritrea has reportedly reacted strongly to those remarks, which many in Eritrea view as an implicit threat of military action.
The allegations in the foreign ministry letter come amid renewed clashes between Tigrayan forces and Ethiopian troops that have prompted concerns about the possibility of a wider return to armed conflict. The Ethiopian government made clear in the letter that it seeks the withdrawal of foreign forces and cessation of support for militant groups as preconditions for de-escalation.
Context limitation: The content of this report is based solely on the information contained in the February 7 letter and related statements as described above. The article does not add additional facts beyond those presented in that correspondence and responses referenced.