African Union Calls for Restraint as Ethiopia’s Rift With Eritrea Deepens

The African Union is urging Ethiopia and its neighbors to step back from a worsening dispute, warning that rising tensions could unsettle the wider region.

The appeal came after Eritrea severed diplomatic ties with Ethiopia, a rupture triggered by Addis Ababa’s decision to close its embassy in Asmara and declare 10 Eritrean diplomats persona non grata. In a statement Thursday, the AU Commission called on the countries to resolve their differences “through established diplomatic channels and peaceful dialogue.”

Ethiopia has accused Egypt, Eritrea and Sudan of supporting armed opposition groups that have fought its federal troops in the northern Tigray region since last week. All three countries deny the accusation.

The dispute is rooted in long-running tensions over control of Tigray, where the 2020-2022 war became one of the deadliest conflicts in recent African history, killing hundreds of thousands of people. Although a peace deal ended major fighting, the region remains fragile, and the latest clashes are the most serious since that conflict.

Experts fear a renewed war could draw in Ethiopia’s neighbors and spiral into a broader confrontation across the Horn of Africa. A wider conflict could also threaten shipping in the Red Sea, a vital trade corridor already under pressure from the Iran war. Eritrea’s coastline stretches more than 2,000 kilometers along that route.

For now, the AU is leaning on its established mediation channels, but the sharp deterioration in Ethiopia-Eritrea relations leaves little margin for error. — Alexis Akwagyiram