A Member of Parliament has accused Eritrea of supporting armed groups opposed to the federal government, alleging a coordinated effort to destabilize Ethiopia by uniting ethnic militias from the Tigray and Amhara regions.
In an opinion piece published on June 2, 2025, in Horn Review, Ethiopian MP and former Foreign Affairs official Ambassador Dina Mufti claimed the alleged alliance aims to overthrow the administration of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD), and warned it could carry catastrophic consequences.
Dina’s accusation comes on the heels of President Isaias Afwerki’s contentious address marking the 34th anniversary of Eritrea’s cessation from Ethiopia, in which he accused Ethiopia and “external actors” of conspiring to destabilize the Horn.
He claimed that external forces were providing Ethiopia with both financial support and technological assistance.
“Their [external forces] reckless agendas and their pre-emptive features are transparent, which include the issue of water, the Nile, the Red Sea, access to the sea, as well as the ideology of Orommuma, which does not represent the Oromo people,” he said in Asmara.
The remarks by the Eritrean president – one of Africa’s long time rulers whom many allege to be “reclusive” and “pariah” – sent shockwaves across the Ethiopian elitist base and has been a point of discussion ever since among the diaspora Ethiopians and the media.
Dina accuses the President, whom he describes as the “Eritrean dictator”, of glossing over the country’s lack of socio-economic progress or improvements in living standards.
“He could not and did not provide an overview of what Eritrea has achieved since independence in terms of socio-economic progress or improvement in living standards, major infrastructure projects and flagship development programs,” he stated. “Nothing of this sort was mentioned in his speeches. It seems that he is utterly disinterested in such things.”
The MP also accused Isaias of adopting a regressive “criminal” approach and of conspiring to instigate conflicts in the region.
“The culprit is the retrograde approach of President Isaias to economic management. His preoccupation with regional intrigue, conflicts and conspiracies,” said Dina.
He argues that the Eritrean president has a history of exploiting ethnic tensions against successive Ethiopian governments.
“Now, he seems to be trying to fuel animosity against the Oromo community in Ethiopia, by invoking a concept he hardly understands—Oromummaa,” said Dina.
He urged the international community to put pressure on Eritrea to withdraw its troops from Ethiopia.
Condemning the claims as “baseless”, Eritrea’s Minister of Information, Yemane Gebremeskel, has sharply criticized Ethiopian political figures aligned with the Prosperity Party (PP), accusing them of waging a “defamatory” campaign against Eritrea’s historical legacy, regional policies, and economic prospects.
In a social media statement on June 2, the Minister asserted that the attacks are rooted in Ethiopia’s “unquenchable thirst” to forcibly acquire a sovereign sea outlet, violating international law.
He also dismissed the critics as “political pygmies” suffering from “Eri-Influenza,” a metaphor for their alleged obsession with undermining Eritrea.
“Their tantrums stem from their reckless and unquenchable thirst for snatching ‘a port and maritime territory’ of their neighbour in flagrant breach of international law,” he stated.
The Minister juxtaposed Ethiopia’s economic challenges—including repeated debt relief and IMF bailouts—with Eritrea’s focus on regional stability, arguing that sustainable development requires “durable peace anchored on international law.”
Yemane warned against “reckless agendas” threatening to destabilize the Horn of Africa, insisting regional populations “do not deserve” policies that risk renewed conflict.”
“The people of our region have no appetite—and certainly do not deserve—reckless agendas that undermine the foundational principles of international law,” he said. “Eritrea neither claims what isn’t ours nor surrenders what is ours.”
Against this backdrop, Constantinos Berhutesfa (PhD), former chair of the AU Anti-Corruption Board and ex-UN policy advisor, stressed the critical role of diplomatic engagement in averting further regional instability.
He emphasized that dialogue remains the most practical path forward, particularly given Eritrea’s expressed “openness” to negotiate port access for Ethiopia.
He further cautioned that unresolved historical conflicts—including Ethiopia’s previous territorial assertions over Eritrea—risk flaring up “unpredictably, potentially ignited by even minor confrontations, such as skirmishes between border patrols.”
“The only viable solution is diplomacy to address the looming danger in the region,” he told The Reporter.
Eritrea seceded from Ethiopia in 1993.
A war that erupted between Ethiopia and Eritrea in 1998 and lasted for two years was reported to have claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people, until it subsided via an international arbitration and a subsequent boundary commission ruling.
In 2018, a rare diplomatic thaw seemed to end a decades-old no-peace and no-war situation that had prevailed between the two neighbours.
Relations have returned again to tense as of late owing, among others, to Ethiopia’s declaration of its desire to get a sea access.
