Ethiopian government troops reached Zalambessa, a town on the border with Eritrea previously controlled by Tigrayan rebels, by Tuesday, six sources told Reuters — putting the federal army at the frontier at the centre of a dispute that both countries have now taken to the UN Security Council. The advance caps a government counter-offensive that has driven the rebels from a string of towns and forced them north, the sources said. Whether Eritrean troops or rebels were still in Zalambessa on Tuesday was unclear, and neither Ethiopia's military nor Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's office had commented, Reuters reported.
What is known about the advance on Zalambessa?
The army reached the town, which has a population of about 15,000 and sits on the Ethiopian side of the border near the country's northernmost point, according to six sources — four people in touch with residents, a diplomat, and a conflict expert in touch with the warring parties — Reuters reported. A spokesperson for a pro-government militia did not confirm that the military had taken control of the town, and spokespeople for the Ethiopian military and for the prime minister did not immediately respond to requests for comment, Reuters reported. The advance is therefore reported on the basis of Reuters' sourcing, not an official Ethiopian announcement.
Did Eritrean troops cross into Ethiopia?
That is the contested claim at the centre of the crisis. Witnesses and a conflict monitor said Eritrean troops crossed last week into Zalambessa in support of the rebels, Reuters reported. The conflict-data project ACLED said Eritrean troops crossed at the same town the previous Wednesday and came under Ethiopian drone attack while moving toward Idaga Hamus, an account carried by both AP and Reuters last week; AP said it could not independently verify either government's account, and Reuters said it could not independently verify the information. Eritrea has denied any incursion. Ethiopia, in its letter to Security Council members, said Eritrean troops had advanced up to 60 km (37 miles) inside Ethiopia, Reuters reported.
What have the two governments asked the UN to do?
Both capitals have written to the Security Council accusing the other. Eritrea's foreign minister Osman Saleh asked the Council to take action against Addis Ababa in a letter seen by Reuters, invoking Chapter VII of the UN Charter, which covers measures ranging from sanctions to military action, and Asmara argued that Ethiopia's accusation of an invasion itself amounted to a declaration of war, Reuters reported. Security Council members were due to hold a closed-door meeting on the situation in the Horn of Africa on Tuesday, according to the Greek presidency of the Council, Reuters reported.
Why are Ethiopia and Eritrea on opposing sides again?
Fighting broke out in Ethiopia last month when a rebel alliance led by the Tigray People's Liberation Front went on the offensive, reigniting a conflict whose 2020–22 war killed hundreds of thousands of people, Reuters reported. The two countries made peace in 2018 and Eritrea fought alongside Ethiopia's federal government in that war, but relations have since soured, in part over sea access: Ethiopia lost its coastline when Eritrea became independent in 1993, and Addis Ababa calls restoring access an existential issue while saying it would pursue it through peace and dialogue, Reuters reported. Diplomats were working to avert a direct war between the two neighbours, and Reuters reported fears that the fighting could spread more widely across a region where Sudan's civil war is already raging.
Contested points in this article — whether Eritrean troops crossed into Ethiopia, and whether federal troops had taken control of Zalambessa — are presented as reported by the sources cited, with each side's position and the limits of verification stated in the text.
