Eritrea severs diplomatic ties after Ethiopia orders embassy closure and expels diplomats

Eritrea has severed all diplomatic ties with Ethiopia after Addis Ababa ordered its embassy in Asmara to close and declared 10 Eritrean diplomats persona non grata, two news outlets report.

According to both Al Jazeera and the Daily Maverick (reporting Reuters), Ethiopia announced the embassy closure and the expulsion of 10 Eritrean diplomats on Thursday. Both outlets say Eritrea responded by cutting diplomatic relations with its neighbour.

Reports of explosions in Addis Ababa

The Daily Maverick, citing Reuters, adds that overnight blasts were heard in Addis Ababa, which prompted fears that renewed conflict in northern Ethiopia could spread. That detail appears only in the Daily Maverick account; Al Jazeera’s report did not mention the blasts.

Tit-for-tat characterisation

Al Jazeera described the move as a tit-for-tat step between the two countries. The outlet and the Daily Maverick agree on the core sequence: Ethiopia ordered its embassy closed and declared Eritrean diplomats persona non grata, and Eritrea then severed diplomatic relations.

Neither outlet provides further confirmation from government statements included in their summaries, and the reports do not give additional details about the diplomatic staff affected, the legal timeline for the embassy closure, or immediate international reactions.

The situation follows a period of fraught relations between Eritrea and Ethiopia; the two sources limit their accounts to the recent reciprocal diplomatic actions and, in the Daily Maverick’s case, the reported blasts in Addis Ababa.