“The border between the two countries is based on the Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission Decision,” according to a statement released over the weekend. It is a “property recognized and legally confirmed boundary,” it said.
“Unless there are violations of law between Eritrea and Ethiopian people’s or Eritrea and Tigray peoples, there is no other issue that could cause conflict,” the statement added. It is unusual for the Eritrean government to make a distinction between the Ethiopian People and Tigray People and it is unclear why that is the case now.
Furthermore, Eritrea said that Ethiopian People drew lessons from the border war between the two countries which caused extensive destruction. The two-year border war that was fought about two decades ago is said to have claimed more than 80,000 lives from both sides.
Ethiopia and Eritrea did have a no-peace-no-war relationship for two decades after the war. It came to an end when Abiy Ahmed pursued what appeared then as a new policy of making Eritrea a friend.
The relationship between the two countries is not as good as it appeared in 2018 after Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s claims over access to the Red Sea in what many interpreted to be a political strategy to deflect increasing opposition to his administration at home.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia (MFAE) has not yet remarked on Eritrea’s announcement. Recently, there have been accusations against Eritrea that it “incorporated” part of the Irob community as part of Eritrea dividing the small community into two.
MG/abj/APA