When Abiy Ahmed became Ethiopian Prime Minister in 2018, Eritrea and Addis Ababa seemed to restore diplomatic ties. With fanfare, they reopened embassies and Ethiopian Airlines famously helped reconnect relatives who had not seen one another for over two decades.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki celebrate the reopening of the Eritrea's embassy in Addis Ababa on July 16, 2018.
Photo credit: File | AFP
Now, the Ethiopian no longer flies to Asmara, after accusations from Eritreans that the carrier wasn't professional in dealing with passenger complaints. Ethiopian rejected the allegations when they first arose in September, but has since suspended flights to Asmara.
And this weekend, Asmara admitted for the first time that relations with Ethiopia were deteriorating, blaming Addis Ababa for the widening fault lines.
On Saturday, President Isaias Afwerki appeared on state television to discuss what he feels is the primary cause of the tensions and conflicts in Ethiopia as well as with its neighbours. According to the veteran leader, these are an outcome of the Ethiopian constitution of 1994.
“The constitution is not conducive to change and does not promote nation-building,” he said of the supreme law that allows federalism in Ethiopia. “If Ethiopia does not make peace with itself, it will not contribute positively to the stability, cooperation and tolerance that the region needs.”
Isaias invoked the ideological differences that essentially pushed Eritrea to secede from Ethiopia in 1993. The Ethiopian federal system was some sort of compromise pushed by then Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.
Emerging from what he saw as a fractured ethnic rivalry, Meles developed a law that created autonomous ethnic regions each with a mini government but all forming the Ethiopian polity. Each of these regions is free to start legal processes of secession if it wants out, otherwise all communities can legally petition to create autonomous regions if they feel marginalised.
Critics of that system, like Isaias, argued it provided an incendiary that could make it difficult to create a nation-state.
Yet Ethiopia is also landlocked and its continual internal tensions have forced Addis Ababa to look for a sea route, creating more tensions with neighbours Eritrea and Somalia.
In January, Addis signed a maritime agreement with Somaliland, a breakaway region that Somalia considers part of its territory.
As per sections of the January deal, which officials have commented on without making it public, Somaliland agreed to provide Ethiopia access to its ports, in exchange for recognition as a nation.
Angered by the deal, Somalia condemned the maritime agreement saying as an act of “aggression.” In response, Mogadishu signed a military agreement with Eritrea and Egypt to counter what it perceives as a threat.
Citing to the tripartite military agreement signed in Asmara by Eritrea, Egypt and Somalia, the Eritrean president on Saturday said, “Eritrea has, indeed, no interest whatsoever to destabilise Ethiopia.”
Addis Ababa is yet to respond on the Eritrean president's latest remarks.
But the tension is the upturn of what was once hailed as a shining example of post-conflict reconciliation, one which was credited for the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to Dr Abiy in 2018.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (left) with Presidents Isaias Afwerki of Eritrea (right) and Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed of Somalia sit in a helicopter during their visit to Gondar, northern Ethiopia, on November 9, 2018.
Photo credit: File | AFP
From devastating war to a landmark peace agreement, the two nations seemed to be on the path to recovery. But a series of political moves, regional disputes, and shifting alliances have reignited tensions.
Today, the once-thriving relations between the two countries have fractured, and the region is once again faced with uncertainty.
In an interview with a YouTube channel of the Eritrean Embassy in UK, Yohannes Teklemichael, Eritrea's ambassador to South Sudan, admitted that the once strong ties between the two countries had "deteriorated" and "are not what they used to be."
The ambassador directly blamed Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed for the deteriorating relations between Eritrea and Ethiopia.
“The problems created by the Prime Minister have killed and buried the relationship between the peoples of Eritrea and Ethiopia,” he said.
In 2018, the world witnessed a historic moment when Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki publicly embraced in Asmara, signalling the end of a bitter 20-year conflict. This gesture, coupled with the signing of the Jeddah Agreement, seemed to mark a new dawn for Ethiopia and Eritrea.
Diplomatic ties were restored, borders were reopened, trade resumed, and hope for lasting peace grew in the Horn of Africa.
The Saudi-brokered peace initiative was hailed as a triumph for diplomacy, with leaders from around the world, including UN Secretary-General António Guterres, in attendance at the signing ceremony in Jeddah.
Later, during the war against Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), Ethiopian forces collaborated with Eritrea to beat back the enemy. However, TPLF later signed a peace deal with Ethiopia in November 2022, in negotiations Eritrea wasn't involved in.
In the succeeding years, the fragile peace between Eritrea and Ethiopia started to erode.
With Ethiopia looking inwardly at its war, Eritrea, though having initially supported Ethiopia's government, got drawn into a broader regional dynamic that seemed to fly in the face of the earlier spirit of cooperation.
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