![United Nations Headquarters in New York City (David Shankbone, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0) [file photo]](https://i0.wp.com/mereja.com/index/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/un-headquarters-file.jpg?resize=780%2C1040&ssl=1)
United Nations Headquarters in New York City (David Shankbone, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0) [file photo]
The UN Security Council was holding closed consultations on the Horn of Africa on Tuesday after the United States requested the meeting over the escalation in northern Ethiopia.
Security Council Report said Assistant Secretary-General for Africa Martin Kimani was expected to brief members. The briefing is the Council’s second closed discussion of the crisis in about two weeks. France requested similar consultations on September 30, and Kimani briefed then as well.
Fighting in northern Ethiopia intensified in late September after the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) joined six other armed groups in a coalition calling itself the Alliance for Survival. Security Council Report said the group seeks to oust Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and described itself on September 23 as engaged in a defensive war. The fighting is the most serious escalation in the area since the 2020-2022 war between the TPLF and the Ethiopian government, which also saw Eritrea fight alongside Ethiopian forces.
Council members are increasingly concerned about an interstate dimension. Ethiopia and Eritrea sent competing letters to the Council last week. In letter S/2026/797, dated October 9, Ethiopian Foreign Minister Gedion Timothewos accused Eritrea of deploying mechanised and infantry units into Ethiopian territory and of arming, financing and directing insurgent groups. He invoked Article 51 of the UN Charter and said Ethiopia is taking measures in exercise of its inherent right of self-defence.
In letter S/2026/798, dated October 10, Eritrean Foreign Minister Osman Saleh rejected the self-defence claim as an attempt to justify a war of aggression. He accused Ethiopia of seeking to forcibly acquire sovereign access to the sea. Saleh cited a September 27 statement by Ethiopia’s Deputy Chief of Staff, General Abebaw Tadesse, that Mekelle was a stop-over toward invading Eritrea. He asked the Council to condemn what he called Ethiopia’s declaration of war and to take deterrent measures under Chapter VII of the Charter. Mereja has not independently verified the Abebaw statement as quoted in the Eritrean letter.
Eritrea severed diplomatic ties with Ethiopia on October 1 after Ethiopia expelled ten Eritrean diplomats and closed its embassy in Asmara. On October 4, leaders of Egypt, Eritrea, Sudan and Somalia met and adopted the El Alamein Joint Declaration, affirming that Red Sea governance is the exclusive responsibility of littoral states. On October 5, as he was sworn in for another five-year term, Abiy Ahmed reiterated that landlocked Ethiopia must have access to the Red Sea and be included in discussions on Red Sea security.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on October 9 that he was gravely concerned by renewed fighting in Tigray, Afar and Amhara. He called for an immediate cessation of hostilities and a return to dialogue under the 2022 Pretoria Agreement, and he expressed concern at reports of Eritrean forces in Ethiopia. On October 5, US Senior Advisor for Arab and African Affairs Massad Boulos urged Ethiopia and Eritrea to respect each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and to exercise maximum restraint.
Martin Plaut, a fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, posted on X on October 11 that the Council would hold closed consultations on Tuesday on the Horn of Africa at the US request, with the Assistant Secretary-General for Africa expected to brief. Getachew Temare, a lawyer and human rights defender, wrote on X that Eritrea’s latest intervention may prove one of the most consequential strategic miscalculations in the Horn of Africa. Jawar Mohammed, a member of the Oromo Federalist Congress, wrote separately on Tuesday about whether the Alliance for Survival can survive what he described as the TPLF’s defeat, tying the coalition’s future to the Ethiopia-Eritrea confrontation rather than to declarations of solidarity among Ethiopian rebel groups.
Security Council Report said members are likely to express alarm at the risk of regional conflagration, call for de-escalation, and stress respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity. Some members may prefer to leave the matter to the African Union and the Pretoria framework, while others may favour stronger Council engagement, including a possible press statement. During the 2020-2022 war, deep divisions made formal Council products rare. The consultations on Tuesday are closed, so no public transcript of what members say is expected.
Sources: