Rubio urges restraint over Ethiopia-Eritrea tensions as rights group reports civilians killed

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has called for de-escalation in the Horn of Africa amid fighting in northern Ethiopia and heightened tensions with neighboring Eritrea.

Rubio spoke by phone with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Wednesday, urging dialogue under a peace deal agreed between Ethiopia and Eritrea in 2018. He said the region could not tolerate more conflict, according to a statement from the State Department.

Renewed fighting in northern Ethiopia’s Tigray region in recent weeks has effectively shattered a 2022 peace agreement that ended a devastating two-year war. Ethiopia has accused Eritrean troops of occupying parts of its territory, while Eritrea condemned Ethiopia for what it called a declaration of war.

Human Rights Watch has received reports of civilians killed and injured by shelling in southern Tigray, Laetitia Bader, the group’s deputy Africa director, told The Associated Press in an interview Tuesday.

She said shelling also forced some health facilities to close and called for independent monitoring, restored communications and safe humanitarian access. Her account did not identify who carried out the shelling.

Near the border, a resident reported that Eritrean soldiers withdrew Monday from Fatsi, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the Ethiopian border town of Zalambessa.

“The last time I saw Eritrean soldiers was when they left late this morning,” Hayelom Gebretsadkan, a three-wheeled taxi driver from Zalambessa, told the AP on Monday. He said the soldiers headed toward the border and there was no active fighting in Fatsi. Later that day, he said Ethiopian federal forces had moved into the town.

In a letter to the U.N. Security Council on Friday, Ethiopian Foreign Minister Gedion Timothewos accused Eritrea of deploying troops across the border and said Ethiopia was taking measures in self defense. He did not specify those measures, identify the occupied areas or provide evidence supporting the allegations. The AP could not independently verify the claims.

Eritrean Foreign Minister Osman Saleh urged the council to condemn what he called a “deplorable declaration of war” by Ethiopia. His response did not confirm or deny the alleged troop crossings.

Rubio told Abiy in their call that “all countries in the Horn of Africa must respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of their neighbors and avoid cross-border incursions.”

The dispute also reflects tensions over Abiy’s pursuit of access to the Red Sea. Ethiopia became landlocked when Eritrea gained independence in 1993.

The countries’ armies fought together against the Tigray People’s Liberation Front during the 2020-2022 war, which caused about 500,000 civilian deaths from violence, famine and the collapse of health services, according to researchers at Ghent University in Belgium.

Last week government-allied fighters entered Mekelle, the capital of Tigray, after the rebel Tigray People’s Liberation Front announced its withdrawal. Ethiopian Airlines resumed flights to Mekelle on Sunday after suspending all flights there for days.

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Kiyaro reported from Hamburg, Germany. Filmon Equar Hailu reported from Mekelle, Ethiopia. Associated Press journalists Matthew Lee in Washington and Moses Ndungu in Nairobi contributed to this report.