Ethiopia expels 10 Eritrean diplomats; Asmara severs all ties

On 1 October 2026 Ethiopia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the closure of its embassy in Asmara and declared ten Eritrean diplomats in Addis Ababa persona non grata, ordering them to leave the country within 48 hours. Ethiopia justified the expulsions by citing 'direct and indirect acts of hostility and belligerence,' accusing the targeted personnel of national-security breaches that violated the Vienna Convention and of financing the Tigray People's Liberation Front. Hours later, Eritrea responded by severing all diplomatic ties with Ethiopia. The rupture came against the backdrop of renewed fighting in northern Ethiopia, drone strikes near military headquarters in Addis Ababa the same day, and a long-running dispute over Ethiopia's push for sovereign access to the Red Sea. The African Union urged Ethiopia, Eritrea and Egypt to show restraint, warning that a further escalation could draw in regional players and reopen the catastrophic 1998-2000 border war. Analysts described the move as the most serious diplomatic breach between the Horn of Africa neighbours since their 2018 reconciliation.