Eritrean president warns Ethiopia against waging war

Eritrea’s President Isaias Afwerki attends the plenary session of the second Russia-Africa summit in Saint Petersburg on July 27, 2023. (AFP)

• At the heart of the current tension, according to the Eritrean government, is landlocked Ethiopia’s long-held desire for a seaport.

NAIROBI: Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki has warned neighbor Ethiopia against launching a new war between the bitter foes, with tensions high in the Horn of Africa region.

Eritrea and Ethiopia have had fraught relations since the former declared independence in 1993, with tens of thousands of people killed in a war between the two from 1998 to 2000.

At the heart of the current tension, according to the Eritrean government, is landlocked Ethiopia’s long-held desire for a seaport.

Afwerki, who has ruled Eritrea with an iron fist since independence, warned Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed that he would not be able to simply overwhelm his country by weight of numbers — Ethiopia’s population is 130 million, compared to just 3.5 million people living in Eritrea.

“If he thinks he can overwhelm (Eritrean forces) with human wave attack, (he is mistaken),” Afwerki told state television channel Eri-TV.

“Before dragging the people of Ethiopia into unwanted wars or using them for another political agenda, the country’s internal problems must be first addressed and solved,” he said.

He called Abiy’s actions a “reckless” attempt to “divert attention” from domestic problems.

Abiy signed a peace deal with Afwerki shortly after coming to power in 2018, but a violent conflict erupted in Ethiopia’s Tigray province from 2020 to 2022 as Eritrea’s forces backed rebels there fighting Ethiopian troops.

At least 600,000 people were killed in the conflict, according to an African Union estimate.

Although a peace deal ended the fighting, Eritrea has maintained a military presence in Tigray and relations between the neighbors have deteriorated.

Abiy has repeatedly said Ethiopia must have access to the sea, but by peaceful means.

Last month, a report by a US monitoring group accused Eritrea of rebuilding its army and destabilising its neighbors.

Eritrean Information Minister Yemane Ghebremeskel criticized the report by NGO The Sentry and blamed “the new tension in the region” on Ethiopia.

Eritrea had been under US arms sanctions that were lifted after the 2018 peace deal.

Eritrea is a single-party state which consistently ranks among the worst in the world for rights — in last place for press freedom, according to Reporters Without Borders, and 175th out of 183 for human development in 2022, according to the United Nations.