Ethiopia accuses Eritrea of arming rebels in escalating war of words

Ethiopian police said they had seized thousands of rounds of ammunition sent by Eritrea to rebels in Ethiopia’s Amhara region, an allegation Eritrea dismissed as a falsehood intended to justify starting a war.

The charge by Ethiopia’s federal police escalates a feud between Ethiopia and Eritrea, longstanding foes who reached a peace deal in 2018 that has since given way to renewed threats and acrimony.

The police said in a statement late on Wednesday they had seized 56,000 rounds of ammunition and arrested two suspects this week in the Amhara region, where Fano rebels have waged an insurgency since 2023.

“The preliminary investigation conducted on the two suspects who were caught red-handed has confirmed that the ammunition was sent by the Shabiya government,” the statement said, using a term for Eritrea’s ruling party.

We know how to defend our nation

—  Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki

Eritrea’s information minister Yemane Gebremeskel told Reuters that Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s Prosperity Party (PP) was looking for a pretext to attack.

“The PP regime is floating false flags to justify the war that it has been itching to unleash for two long years,” he said.

In an interview this week with state-run media, Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki said the Prosperity Party had declared war on his country. He said Eritrea did not want war, but added: “We know how to defend our nation.”

The two countries fought a three-year border war that broke out in 1998, five years after Eritrea won its independence from Ethiopia.

They signed a historic agreement to normalise relations in 2018 that won Ethiopia’s Abiy the Nobel Peace Prize the next year. Eritrean troops then fought in support of Ethiopia’s army during a 2020-22 civil war in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region.

But relations soured after Asmara was frozen out of the peace deal that ended that conflict. Since then, Eritrea has bristled at repeated public declarations by Abiy that landlocked Ethiopia has a right to sea access – comments many in Eritrea, which lies on the Red Sea, view as an implicit threat of military action.

Abiy has said Ethiopia does not seek conflict with Eritrea and wants to address the issue of sea access through dialogue.

Reuters