On October 2, 2025, #Ethiopia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs submitted its second letter of complaint to #UN Secretary-General António Guterres @antonioguterres . The letter echoes a familiar chorus: accusations that #Eritrea is preparing a massive attack in the summer of 2025, allegedly in coordination with the #TPLF and #FANO forces.
One would expect Eritrea to take legal action, now that the Prosperity Party has resurrected old territorial ambitions long settled by history and cloaked them in incendiary rhetoric aimed at reclaiming Eritrea’s ports. The gesture is as provocative as it is perplexing. After all, Article 2(4) of the United Nations Charter explicitly prohibits “the use or threat of force against the sovereignty, territorial integrity, or political independence of any member state.”
By reviving defunct claims through the language of aggression, Ethiopia’s ruling party flouts not only international norms but also the fragile peace painstakingly achieved in the Horn of Africa.
By waging a campaign of hostility and irredentism over the past two years, Ethiopia’s ruling party has brazenly defied the core principles of international law — principles designed to prevent war — choosing instead aggression disguised as grievance and ambition cloaked in diplomacy
Moreover, the Prosperity Party (PP) leadership and its generals continue to issue statements that flagrantly insult Eritrea’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Their rhetoric, amplified daily through social media surrogates, amounts to a coordinated campaign of provocation and distortion.
One need only recall the chorus of reckless declarations by the Prime Minister and his Military Generals amongst others – stating:
“We have devised a two-water strategy. The GERD and Red Sea” “We will soon have a port.” “We will celebrate Irreecha on the coast.” “We established a navy because we want the sea.” “Ethiopia’s loss of the sea is unacceptable.” “Eritrea’s referendum was illegal.” “Our army is on the border — we will flood and swallow you.”
These are not slips of the tongue; they reflect a deep-seated desperation — a yearning of sovereign coastal territory that belongs to neighboring countries.
But the Eritrean people are not easily shaken. Having endured colonizers, conflicts, and decades of external pressure, they are not new to noise and threats. Eritrea’s silence is not a sign of weakness but that of restraint — a deliberate cultural and diplomatic choice.
In his July 2025 interview, President Isaias Afwerki articulated this clearly: “We have no appetite for war. We have no hunger for territory over our neighbours. But if we are attacked, we know how to defend ourselves. Only those who do not know history would think otherwise.”
The Ethiopian public, seasoned by its own long and turbulent history, seems equally unmoved by the Prosperity Party’s rhetoric. The “sea-mania” that the Prosperity Party tried to ignite has failed to catch fire among ordinary citizens. The people know empty talk when they hear it.
As the Arabic proverb that roughly translates us: “He who hits me cries first, and cries louder.” The Prosperity Party’s latest complaint to the UN, blaming Eritrea and the TPLF for the FANO uprising in Woldia and elsewhere, is a classic example. The arson who started the fire — and then cry that he is being burned.
Accusing Eritrea has become a recycled political ritual in Ethiopian politics — a convenient distraction whenever domestic crises deepen. Successive regimes have done it to mask internal failures. History, it seems, is repeating itself.
The truth remains: Ethiopia’s instability is homegrown. No amount of finger-pointing across the border will conceal the cracks within. And no volume of propaganda can transform political recklessness into national strategy.