Eritrea–Ethiopia relations

While Ethiopia remained independent during the colonial conquests of Africa, Italy created a colony called Eritrea around Asmara in the 19th Century. After World War II and Italy's defeat, Britain occupied Eritrea. Eritrea was then federated with Ethiopia in 1952 by the ratification of UN General Assembly Resolution 390, which ignored the independence desires of the Eritrean people.

In the late 1950s, Eritreans began organising an armed rebellion from their base in Cairo. In 1962, Ethiopia's emperor Haile Selassie unilaterally dissolved the federation and annexed Eritrea, triggering a war that would last three decades.

Eritrea seceded from Ethiopia through their war of independence (1961-1991). Eritrea's independence was formally recognised when it was admitted into the UN after a referendum in 1993.

In December 2000, Eritrea and Ethiopia signed a peace treaty ending their war and created a pair of binding judicial commissions, the Eritrea-Ethiopia Border Commission and the Eritrean-Ethiopian Claims Commission, to rule on their disputed border and related claims. In April 2002 The Commission released its decision (with a clarification in 2003).[2] Disagreements following the war have resulted in stalemate punctuated by periods of elevated tension and renewed threats of war.[3][4] Since these decisions Ethiopia has refused to permit the physical demarcation of the border while Eritrea insists the border must be demarcated as defined by the Commission. Consequently, the Boundary Commission ruled boundary as virtually demarcated and effective.

Eritrea maintains a military force on its border with Ethiopia roughly equal in size to Ethiopia's force, which has required a general mobilization of a significant portion of the population.[5] Eritrea has viewed this border dispute as an existential threat to itself in particular and the African Union in general, because it deals with the supremacy of colonial boundaries in Africa.[6] Since the border conflict Ethiopia no longer uses Eritrean ports for its trade.[7]

During the border conflict and since, Ethiopia has fostered militants against Eritrea (including ethnic separatists and religiously based organizations).[8] Eritrea has retaliated by hosting militant groups against Ethiopia as well. The United Nations Security Council argues that Eritrea and Ethiopia have expanded their dispute to a second theater, Somalia.[9]

In March 2012, Ethiopia attacked Eritrean army outposts along the border. Addis Ababa said the assault was in retaliation for the training and support given by Asmara to subversives while Eritrea said the U.S knew of the attacks, an accusation denied by US officials.[10]

At a summit on July 8, 2018 in Asmara, Eritrea's President Isaias Afewerki and Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed pledged to restore diplomatic relations and open their borders to each other.[11] The next day, they signed a joint declaration formally ending the Eritrean–Ethiopian border conflict.[12][13] Another peace agreement was signed in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on 16 September later that year.[14]

• Eritrea has an embassy in Addis Ababa.
• Ethiopia has an embassy in Asmara.

Throughout the Ethiopian-Eritrean Diaspora, there have been many multi-ethnic and bi-national origin community organizations founded by and for Eritreans and Ethiopians to foster good relationships, promote and express cultural commonalities well before diplomatic ties between the two countries's governments were ever restored. A majority of these organizations are found on college/university campuses throughout the United States, Canada, and other parts of the Ethiopian-Eritrean Diaspora.[15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23]

Part of a series on the
History of Eritrea
Pre-colonial Kingdom of Punt Kingdom of Dəmot Aksumite Empire Kingdom of Medri Bahri Ethiopian Empire
Colonial Eyalet-i Habeş Italian Eritrea Eritrea Governorate of Italian East Africa East African Campaign of World War II British Military Administration
Post-Colonial Autonomy within Ethiopia Annexation as the Eritrea Province Eritrean War of Independence Ethiopian Civil War
State of Eritrea 1990s in Eritrea Eritrean–Ethiopian War 2000s in Eritrea 2010s in Eritrea
Eritrea portal

Part of a series on the
History of Ethiopia
Early history Prehistory   Dʿmt 980 – 400 BC
Middle Ages Aksum 100 – 940 AD Zagwe dynasty 900–1270 Early Solomonic period 1270–1529
Early modern history Ethiopian–Adal War 1527–1543 Oromo migrations 1543 – 17th century Habesh Eyalet 1557 – 17th century Early Gondar period 1632–1769 Aussa Sultanate 1734–1974 Zemene Mesafint 1769–1855
Modern history Unification 1855–1913 First Italo–Ethiopian War 1895–1896 Pre-Italian Modernization 1913–1936 Second Italo–Ethiopian War 1935–1936 Italian East Africa 1936–1941 East African Campaign 1941 Italian guerrilla war 1941–1943 Post-Italian Modernization 1941–1974 Federation with Eritrea 1952–1962 Eritrean Independence 1961–1991 Ethiopian Civil War 1974–1991
Recent history Ethiopian general election 2005 Ogaden conflict 2007–2008 War in Somalia 2006–2009
Topics Military Aristocracy Currency (Aksumite) Emperor