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Eritrea asks UN to intervene in standoff with Ethiopia
Confirmed
In Short: Eritrea has asked the UN to take action against Ethiopia, accusing it of launching an 'all-out invasion'.
Eritrea has requested the United Nations to take 'deterrent measures' against Ethiopia, following what it calls Addis Ababa's 'declaration of war' in the Tigray conflict.
In a letter to the UN Security Council, Eritrea's Foreign Minister Osman Saleh accused Ethiopia of launching an 'all-out invasion' and advancing 60 kilometres into Tigray.
Ethiopia, in its own letter to the Security Council, invoked its right to self-defence under Article 51 of the UN Charter, but did not specify the measures it was taking.
Saleh said Ethiopia's actions would cause 'huge devastation' to both countries and destabilise the region, while also calling for the UN to invoke Chapter VII of the UN Charter, which allows for sanctions or military action.
Eritrea's request comes after Ethiopia accused Eritrean troops of advancing into Tigray and launching drone strikes against them.
Both countries have accused each other of starting the conflict over Tigray, where Ethiopia claims Eritrea is supporting rebels.
Ethiopian Foreign Minister Gedion Timothewos accused Eritrea of a 'blatant act of aggression' and said his country was exercising its inherent right to self-defence.
What's confirmed
- Eritrea has asked the United Nations to take “deterrent measures” after what it called Ethiopia’s “declaration of war” in the conflict over the Tigray region.
- Eritrea’s request comes a day after Addis Ababa, in a letter to the Security Council, accused Asmara of launching an “all-out invasion”, saying Eritrean troops had advanced up to 60 kilometres (37 miles) into Ethiopia’s Tigray.
- Timothewos invoked Ethiopia’s right to self-defence under Article 51 of the UN Charter, but he did not specify what measures the country was taking.
- In his letter, Saleh called Ethiopia’s actions “deceitful attempts to rationalise its brazen acts of war”, claiming that they were “hollow in substance”.
- He said Ethiopia’s action would cause “huge devastation to the peoples of both countries and destabilise the whole region”.
- The neighbouring countries have accused each other of starting a war over Tigray, where Ethiopia says Eritrea is backing rebels.
- “There is really no doubt that both of them are inching towards an open conflict,” he told Al Jazeera from the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.
- Ethiopian Foreign Minister Gedion Timothewos on Friday accused Eritrea of “a blatant act of aggression that engages Ethiopia’s inherent right to self-defence”.
- “Eritrea requests the UN Security Council to forcefully condemn Ethiopia’s deplorable declaration of war against Eritrea … and take the requisite deterrent measures,” Eritrea’s Saleh said in the letter on Saturday.
- It also said it launched drone strikes against Eritrean troops in the region.
- In a separate letter to the council on Saturday, Eritrean Foreign Minister Osman Saleh said the claims of an Eritrean incursion were part of an Ethiopian plan to justify a war of aggression and urged the UN to intervene, invoking Chapter VII of the UN Charter, which allows measures from sanctions to military action.
What's still developing
- Nothing material beyond the confirmed record.