Ethiopia just accused Eritrea of invading its territory and the ceasefire is collapsing
1 hour ago · 10 October 2026Share
Fighter of the Tigray People's Liberation Front with an artillery piece during the Ethiopian civil war. File photo. Unknown author Unknown author · Public domain
Ethiopia just told the United Nations that Eritrea invaded it.
The accusation: Eritrean troops pushed up to 60 kilometres into northern Ethiopia's Tigray region. And Ethiopian soldiers are now fighting to push them back out.
Gedion Timothewos, Ethiopia's Foreign Minister, sent the letter two days ago. It went to Jean-Noel Barrot, France's Foreign Minister, and to every other member of the UN Security Council.
So where does 60 kilometres come from? Ethiopia's own government. Nobody outside Ethiopia has independently confirmed that number.
But it does match what people on the ground have been seeing.
Witnesses told Reuters they saw Eritrean soldiers this week in Adigrat. That's a town in northern Ethiopia, roughly 25 to 30 kilometres from the Eritrean border. A commander allied with Ethiopia's government says Eritrean soldiers also moved into the nearby town of Idaga Hamus.
One Adigrat resident told Reuters they heard repeated explosions overnight and into the morning, several kilometres outside town. The conflict monitor ACLED says Ethiopian drones hit Eritrean forces as they pulled back from positions near Adigrat, two to three days ago.
So this letter isn't the start of anything. It's the next chapter of a fight that was already happening.
Eritrea says none of this is an invasion.
Yemane Gebremeskel, Eritrea's Information Minister, posted on X that Ethiopia has, in his words, been fighting an unprovoked war against Eritrea for more than three years. Eritrea hasn't formally answered Ethiopia's letter at the UN.
And the two countries aren't talking anyway. They cut diplomatic ties nine days ago, after Ethiopia closed its embassy in Asmara and expelled ten Eritrean diplomats.
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Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellite data showing the rugged terrain of Ethiopia's Northern Highlands near the Eritrean border, including the cities of Axum and Adwa. Yonas Kidane · CC BY-SA 2.0
Here's what Eritrea says this is really about: the coast.
Ethiopia has had no sea access since Eritrea became independent. Eritrea says Ethiopia is using the Tigray war as cover to grab its Red Sea port of Assab. Abiy Ahmed, Ethiopia's Prime Minister, was sworn in this week for another five-year term — and used that moment to repeat that Ethiopia must have access to the Red Sea.
That's the tension sitting under this entire war.
And the fighting itself started before any of this. It began 17 days ago, when a seven-group armed alliance that includes the Tigray People's Liberation Front launched an offensive against Ethiopia's federal government. Ethiopian federal forces and allied fighters recaptured Tigray's capital, Mekelle, about a week ago, after the TPLF pulled out.
Ethiopia says Eritrea, Egypt and Sudan backed that rebel alliance. All three countries deny it.
One sign Ethiopia thinks it's steadying its grip on the territory: Ethiopian Airlines resumes regular flights to Mekelle tomorrow, after suspending the route since 23 September.
And here's the twist. Ethiopia and Eritrea were allies as recently as the 2020 to 2022 Tigray civil war. Back then, Eritrean troops fought alongside Ethiopia's federal government against the TPLF. That war killed hundreds of thousands of people. Relations between the two governments soured as it ended.
Before that, the two countries fought each other outright, in a war from 1998 to 2000. A peace deal in 2018 ended it and won Abiy Ahmed the Nobel Peace Prize.
So what don't we know? How many troops are involved on either side. What the fighting near Adigrat has actually cost in lives. And whether Ethiopia has really pushed Eritrean forces back the full 60 kilometres it says they advanced.
This is the most serious fighting in the Horn of Africa since the Tigray war ended. A ceasefire that held for four years is coming apart on two fronts at once. Ethiopia against the rebel alliance. And Ethiopia against the neighbour that used to fight on its side.
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