Ethiopian troops enter Zalambessa on Eritrea border

Ethiopian government troops entered the border town of Zalambessa on Tuesday, stoking fears of a wider war with neighbouring Eritrea, Reuters reported.

The town of about 15,000 people sits on the Ethiopian side of the frontier and had been held by Tigrayan rebels. Four people in touch with residents, a diplomat and a conflict expert told Reuters the army had arrived. A spokesperson for a pro-government militia did not confirm the takeover, and Ethiopia’s military and the office of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Witnesses and a conflict monitor told Reuters that Eritrean troops crossed into Zalambessa the previous week to support the rebels. It was unclear whether Eritrean troops or rebels were still there on Tuesday. Eritrea denies any incursion into Ethiopia.

Ethiopia wrote to members of the United Nations Security Council claiming Eritrean forces had advanced as far as 60 kilometres inside Ethiopia, Reuters reported. Eritrea called the accusation a “declaration of war.” Foreign Minister Osman Saleh wrote to the council invoking Chapter VII of the UN Charter and asked it to take deterrent measures against Ethiopia.

Diplomats were scrambling to prevent a wider conflict, Reuters reported. The Security Council was due to hold a closed-door meeting on the Horn of Africa on Tuesday.

Fighting resumed last month when a rebel alliance led by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front launched an offensive. A government counter-offensive has pushed the rebels back from several towns, according to Reuters.

Canada News Media reported on Oct. 11 that Ethiopia and Eritrea were accusing each other of starting the war. The latest developments follow a week of rising rhetoric.

Ethiopia and Eritrea made peace in 2018. Eritrea backed Ethiopia’s federal government in the 2020-2022 Tigray war, which killed hundreds of thousands of people, but relations have since soured. Ethiopia accuses Eritrea of backing the rebels.

Access to the sea is a central dispute. Ethiopia lost its coastline when Eritrea became independent in 1993, and Addis Ababa calls restoring access an existential issue. It says it would pursue the goal through peace and dialogue, Reuters reported.

The reports do not give casualty figures for the current fighting, and details remain contested. This story is developing.

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