Eritrea has formally petitioned the United Nations Security Council to forcefully condemn Ethiopia and impose binding deterrent measures under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, describing recent diplomatic and military maneuvers by Addis Ababa as an imminent threat to regional peace.
The diplomatic standoff intensified following a communication submitted to the UN Security Council on October 10, in which Ethiopia’s Foreign Ministry formally announced military actions, citing Article 51 of the UN Charter under the framework of “self-defense”.
Eritrean Foreign Minister Osman Saleh categorically rejected Addis Ababa’s position in an official letter to the Security Council, characterizing Ethiopia’s self-defense claims as a pretext to cover a sustained aggressive agenda aimed at forcibly acquiring access to the Red Sea.
”Ethiopia’s deceitful attempts to rationalize its brazen acts of war against a sovereign UN member State in ‘self-defense’ terms is hollow in substance and constitutes an insult to the intelligence of the international community,” Saleh stated in the letter.
Foreign Minister Saleh warned that Ethiopia’s current actions threaten to inflict severe devastation on the populations of both countries and destabilize the broader Horn of Africa. The Eritrean government emphasized that Ethiopia’s moves ignore international appeals, including joint statements issued by the UN Secretary-General and member states on the 25th anniversary of the Algiers Agreement reinforcing the imperative of respecting Eritrean sovereignty and territorial integrity.
To support its position, Asmara highlighted public statements by Ethiopian military leadership. The submission specifically referenced statements made on September 27 by Ethiopia’s Deputy Chief of Staff, General Abebaw Tadesse, who asserted that military operations in northern Ethiopia’s Tigray region served as a stepping stone toward invading the strategic Eritrean port city of Assab.
Eritrea is urging the Security Council to take immediate action under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, which grants the Council the authority to enforce mandatory non-military sanctions or military deterrence to preserve international security.