Ethiopia cut diplomatic ties with Eritrea on 2 October, one day after a drone strike targeted the defense ministry in the Ethiopian capital.

Ethiopian authorities expelled 10 Eritrean diplomats and closed their embassy in Eritrea’s capital, Asmara, after the strike.

AFP reported that an explosion rocked the Ethiopian National Defense Force headquarters in the Tor Hayloch area of Addis Ababa on Thursday.

Rebel groups fighting the Ethiopian government in the northern Tigray region took credit for the drone strike.

Addis Ababa accuses Eritrea of supporting the rebels, including the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).

In a statement, Ethiopia accused Eritrea of engaging in “direct and indirect acts of hostility and belligerence” against it.

Eritrea denied the accusation, saying in response it was severing all diplomatic relations with Ethiopia and accusing it of arming Eritrean opposition groups to topple the government in Asmara.

“In parallel with these aggressive intentions, Ethiopia has gone further to host, train, and provide arms to an assortment of what it calls ‘Eritrean armed opposition groups’ to stoke internal conflict for ‘regime change’ in Eritrea,” Eritrea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

Tensions between the two East African nations have increased in recent months, with landlocked Ethiopia claiming parts of Eritrea’s Red Sea coastline.

“[Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed] has a two-waters strategy like Israel. Only for him it is from the Nile River to the Red Sea,” Eritrean Foreign Minister Osman Saleh told Middle East Eye last month, referring to Israel’s effort to annex Palestinian territory in the occupied West Bank extending to the Jordan River.

Ethiopia lost direct access to the Red Sea when Eritrea became independent in 1993. Addis Ababa now relies overwhelmingly on ports in neighboring Djibouti for its international maritime trade.

Last month, Israeli ambassador Avraham Neguise publicly stated that Israel supports Ethiopia’s effort to obtain access to the Red Sea. “Israel is behind Ethiopia in this effort. This is clear Israeli policy.”

Israel is seeking to gain a foothold in areas of east Africa abutting the Red Sea in a bid to counter the influence of the Ansarallah-led Yemeni Armed Forces, in particular over the strategic Bab al-Mandab Strait.

Israel has supported Ethiopia in its conflict with Eritrea in the past. In the 1970s and 1980s, Israel provided arms to Ethiopia’s Marxist Derg government to help it battle Eritrean fighters.

The UAE, Israel’s close ally in the region, is also a staunch supporter of Ethiopia. Abu Dhabi has provided drones and other military supplies to Abiy Ahmed’s forces.

The UAE is pursuing “port imperialism” across Africa, Eritrean Foreign Minister Saleh added.

“The UAE has port facilities everywhere in the region, and African countries have to ask why. Is it just for economics? No.”

The UAE’s two port groups, DP World and AD Ports, control strategic ports in east Africa, including in Puntland, a semiautonomous region which only Israel recognizes as independent from Somalia.

The UAE has used its control of ports in the region to arm fighters from Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which are accused of carrying out genocide during the Sudanese civil war.

Via https://thecradle.co/articles/ethiopia-eritrea-sever-ties-following-drone-strike-on-addis-ababa