By : Kadir Moustapha
ADDIS ABABA, Oct. 1 — Ethiopia announced on Thursday that it would close its embassy in Eritrea’s capital, Asmara, and ordered 10 Eritrean diplomats to leave the country within 48 hours, accusing them of activities threatening national security.
The Foreign Ministry said the embassy closure was a response to what it described as Eritrea’s “direct and indirect acts of hostility and belligerence against Ethiopia.”
It declared the diplomats in Addis Ababa persona non grata, alleging that their activities breached the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.
“These diplomats are required to leave Ethiopia within 48 hours,” the ministry said in a statement dated October 1.
The statement did not identify the diplomats or specify the activities behind the expulsions. It also provided no detailed evidence supporting the accusations against Eritrea.
The measures mark a significant deterioration in relations between the Horn of Africa neighbours amid renewed fighting in northern Ethiopia. Addis Ababa has accused Eritrea of supporting armed opponents of the federal government.
Ethiopia urged the Eritrean government to stop actions it said were inconsistent with relations between sovereign states.
Despite the diplomatic measures, the ministry said Ethiopia valued its historical, cultural and people-to-people ties with Eritrea and remained committed to peaceful coexistence and regional stability.
“Ethiopia remains committed to the peaceful resolution of disputes,” it said, adding that it would work with countries across the Horn of Africa to advance peace, security and regional integration.
Ethiopia reopened its embassy in Asmara in 2018 during a rapprochement that ended two decades of hostility following their 1998–2000 border war.
Reporting by HornDiplomat News Desk)