Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki has issued a stern warning to neighbouring Ethiopia, cautioning Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed against provoking a new war between the two historically hostile nations. The warning comes amid growing tensions in the Horn of Africa, fueled by Ethiopia’s renewed calls for access to a seaport.
Speaking on Eritrea’s state broadcaster Eri-TV, Afwerki accused Ethiopia of attempting to divert attention from internal turmoil by stirring regional unrest. “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.
Afwerki dismissed any notion that Ethiopia could overpower Eritrea by sheer population size, calling the idea of a “human wave attack” a fatal miscalculation. Ethiopia’s population is estimated at 130 million, compared to Eritrea’s 3.5 million.
Relations between the two countries have remained fragile since Eritrea gained independence in 1993. A brutal border war from 1998 to 2000 claimed tens of thousands of lives. Though a peace agreement was signed in 2018, the alliance quickly fractured when Eritrean forces supported Tigrayan rebels in Ethiopia’s northern conflict from 2020 to 2022, a war that killed an estimated 600,000 people.
Despite the ceasefire, Eritrean troops have remained in the Tigray region, and mutual distrust has deepened. Ethiopia’s insistence on gaining access to the Red Sea, most recently championed by Abiy as a matter of national interest, has reignited fears of future confrontation.
Last month, US-based watchdog The Sentry accused Eritrea of rebuilding its military and destabilising neighbouring countries, a claim Eritrea denied. Information Minister Yemane Ghebremeskel instead blamed Ethiopia for stoking “new tensions in the region.”
Afwerki’s comments underline the high-stakes volatility in the Horn of Africa, where decades-old rivalries, shifting alliances, and competing interests threaten to reignite one of the continent’s most entrenched conflicts.
Written By Rodney Mbua
