Ethiopia has closed its embassy in Eritrea and ordered 10 Eritrean diplomats to leave the country within 48 hours, as tensions rise between the two neighbours.
Footage filmed in Addis Ababa on Friday shows the Eritrean embassy closed, with people waiting outside and a man knocking on its doors. A truck is also seen leaving the compound before a security guard closes the gate.
Ethiopia’s Foreign Ministry said the diplomats were declared persona non grata over alleged activities posing a direct threat to the country’s national security.
Addis Ababa said it closed its embassy in Asmara in response to what it described as Eritrea’s “direct and indirect acts of hostility and belligerence.”
Eritrea rejected Ethiopia’s allegations, accused Addis Ababa of pursuing hostile policies and said it would ‘sever all diplomatic ties’ with Ethiopia in response.
Relations between Ethiopia and Eritrea have deteriorated in recent months, with both sides trading accusations of hostile actions, years after restoring diplomatic ties in 2018.
It comes amid renewed fighting in northern Ethiopia between government forces and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and its allies across parts of Tigray, Afar and Amhara. Ethiopia accused Eritrea of supporting a new militant alliance – which Asmara has repeatedly denied.
Source: Viory
