Eritrea accuses Ethiopia of planning full-scale war

The government of Eritrea told the United Nation (UN) Human Rights Council that its neighbour Ethiopia is planning to launch a full-scale war against its territory.

Eritrean and Ethiopian troops recently clashed along their border. The countries are blaming one another for starting recent hostilities that included heavy border fighting around the Tserona central front, an area located south of the Eritrean capital, Asmara.

Girma Tesfay Asmerom, Eritrea’s UN Permanent Representative, said that there is clear evidence that Ethiopia has adopted a hostile policy towards his country.

“The evidence is their own statement that they have made in their parliament, and a lot of (Ethiopian) officials have been saying… that they will attack Eritrea, they will take military action, they have changed their policy towards Eritrea, they will go for a regime change…support opposition armed groups to attack,” Ambassador Asmerom told VOA.

He said that the June 12 confrontation between the two countries is further evidence that Ethiopia is seeking regime change and seeks occupation of his country.
 “There was a major military engagement and aggression by Ethiopia using tanks, artilleries and ground forces,” he said.

Last week, Eritrea’s Foreign Ministry accused the United States of playing a role of instigating the attack on its territory. U.S. State Department spokesman, John Kirby, dismissed the accusation and urged the two countries work towards a stable and peaceful region. “The United States, including our missions in both capitals and our mission to the UN in New York continues to engage with both Ethiopia and Eritrea, to urge restraint and to prevent escalation.”

But Asmerom insists that the U.S. relationship with Ethiopia denotes a complicity in the attacks on his country.