Rubio warns troop build-up on Ethiopia-Eritrea border could 'turn into a broader conflict'

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has warned that rising military tensions between Ethiopia and Eritrea could lead to a wider war, and said Washington had urged Ethiopia to respond with restraint.

“You see troops surging on both sides of the border as a result of that. And anytime you see troops on both sides of the border in a place like that, you’re always worried that that can turn into a broader conflict,” Rubio told reporters at Joint Base Andrews on Friday 17 October (US time), according to a State Department transcript.

Rubio said attacks by “separatists” inside Ethiopia, including “drone attacks against their own capital”, had prompted an Ethiopian military response. He said he had spoken to the Ethiopian side personally that week and told them “it’s a time to sort of be wise and measured in how you respond”, adding: “The last thing the world needs right now is another war.” He said recently lifted sanctions were “very small” and were meant to improve US communication with Eritrea, because “it’s hard to serve the role of mediator and peacemaker unless you can talk to both sides.”

Ethiopia’s foreign minister, Gedion Timothewos, told the UN Security Council this month that Eritrean troops had advanced as far as 60km into Tigray, calling it “a blatant act of aggression”, Al Jazeera reported. Eritrea denies sending troops. Its foreign minister, Osman Saleh, urged the Council to condemn what he called Ethiopia’s “deplorable declaration of war”. In a briefing to diplomats in Asmara on 15 October, he accused Ethiopia of seeking control of the Red Sea and the port of Assab by force, according to Eritrea’s Ministry of Information.

Background

Fighting resumed in Tigray on 23 September, when a rebel alliance including the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) attacked government forces, Al Jazeera reported. The rebels withdrew from the regional capital, Mekelle, on 3 October. On 16 October, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s office said the TPLF had been defeated and announced a federal caretaker administration to run Tigray for six months, with elections planned within that period. The TPLF says its forces have since retaken several towns in central Tigray, the US-based Critical Threats Project reported. Ethiopia and Eritrea fought a border war from 1998 to 2000, and their relations have worsened over Ethiopia’s demands for access to the sea.