Rubio and Abiy Ahmed give diverging readouts of call on Eritrea tensions

Official portrait of U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, January 2025 (U.S. Department of State, public domain) [file photo]

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke by phone with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed about rising tensions with Eritrea, while the two sides described the conversation in different ways, BBC Amharic reported on Thursday.

In a readout posted on X by State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott, Rubio “spoke with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali on the need to deescalate tensions with Eritrea.” The only sustainable solution to internal and external tensions, the readout said, is dialogue and engagement “as agreed to in the 2018 Ethiopia-Eritrea peace framework.” The U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa retweeted the same message on its official account.

The State Department also said Rubio stressed that all countries in the Horn of Africa must respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of their neighbors and avoid cross-border incursions, and that “the region cannot tolerate more conflict,” a line Martin Plaut, a Horn of Africa researcher and writer, shared on X.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, posting on his own social channels, called the exchange “extremely productive” on bilateral, regional and multilateral issues of shared interest, BBC Amharic said. He framed the talk as proof of a commitment to lift a long friendship into a stronger strategic and practical partnership, and he said he valued Washington’s assurance of continued support for Ethiopia. He did not spell out the Eritrea points in the same detail as the U.S. readout.

Umut Cagri Sari, who writes on Horn politics, said on X that the gap between the two readouts was striking. Rubio, he wrote, urged parties to avoid cross-border incursions and ease the standoff with Eritrea because the region cannot take more fighting, while Abiy Ahmed’s version stayed broader and warmer. Senait Senay, a researcher who posts regularly on Ethiopian security, shared that assessment on X.

Jawar Mohammed, a politician and commentator, posted a longer essay asking what would follow if Ethiopia broke Eritrea’s defenses. He argued that the risk of a full Ethiopia-Eritrea war has moved from a distant possibility to an immediate danger. His post is analysis, not an official readout of the call, and it sits beside the diplomatic messaging rather than confirming it.

The call came after the United States requested closed Security Council consultations on the Horn this week, BBC Amharic reported. It also came as Ethiopian government forces and allied fighters press campaigns inside Tigray and as Asmara and Addis Ababa trade accusations over border troops. Ethiopia has told the Security Council that Eritrean forces crossed into its territory. Eritrea has told the Council that Addis Ababa is seeking to justify war under the cover of self-defense.

BBC Amharic recalled that Rubio and Abiy Ahmed spoke in November last year about Horn peace and regional stability. Washington has also pushed for restraint through its embassy in Addis Ababa. Ambassador Ervin Massinga earlier accused Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) leaders of opening a large-scale attack when fighting restarted in the north.

Anadolu Agency, reporting separately on advances inside Tigray, also noted that Rubio discussed the tensions with Abiy Ahmed on Wednesday and repeated the State Department line that the region cannot tolerate more conflict. That framing puts the call inside a wider week of battlefield claims, travel warnings and aid appeals rather than treating it as a standalone courtesy chat.

Neither side published a joint statement. Diplomatic pressure is rising even as battlefield claims shift day by day, and the 2018 peace framework Rubio cited remains the U.S. public baseline for how neighbors should settle the spat. Mereja will treat social posts about the call as attributed voices, not as independent proof of what was said behind closed doors.

Sources:

Rubio and Abiy Ahmed give diverging readouts of call on Eritrea tensions

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