What does the diplomatic "relegation" between Ethiopia and Eritrea mean?
Eritrean President Issaias Afewerki and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed raise the Eritrean flag during an inauguration ceremony marking the reopening of the Eritrean embassy in Addis Ababa, July 16, 2018 (illustrative image).
MICHAEL TEWELDE / AFP
Text by: Léonard Vincent Follow
2 mins
Are there diplomatic tensions between Ethiopia and its ally Eritrea?
The Ethiopian press is asking the question, after the Eritrean ambassador in Addis Ababa was replaced by a simple "charge d'affaires" last week.
The two countries should however be closely linked since the 2018 peace agreement and the war in Tigray in November 2020, where their two armies are fighting together.
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The exchange of ambassadors, after twenty years of rupture, was one of the achievements of the 2018 peace agreement. Officially, in the name of Eritrea, there has been no more in Addis Ababa since the 30 March that what is called a "charge d'affaires on foot", the young diplomat Biniam Berhe, replacing the former ambassador Araya Desta, who is ill and has retired.
In diplomatic jargon, this title designates a diplomat "
in post for an extended period, in the absence of the appointment of an ambassador
".
As for Ethiopia's ambassador to Eritrea, senior official Fekadu Beyene was appointed on March 17.
But his credentials have not yet been accepted by Eritrean President Issayas Afewerki.
This protocol deterioration of relations between the two countries therefore questions the Ethiopian press, which titles like the pro-government site Borkena on the "
relegation
" of diplomatic representation between the two countries, however allies, or radio Wazema, which speaks of "
demotion
" .
But on the side of the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the situation is minimized, explaining that it is a common practice between two appointments.
“
The essential communication channels, that is to say military, are still active
,” explains Eritrean journalist Amanuel Ghirmai, of Radio Erena.
“
The Eritrean president
, he continues,
likes to play with the nerves of his partners to maintain a bargaining lever.
»
While talking about peace talks with the Tigrayan leadership, the blockage is therefore, according to him, a way for Asmara to maintain pressure on Addis Ababa to remind that the common objective of Ethiopia and Eritrea should remain its elimination.
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Ethiopia
Eritrea
Diplomacy