Ethiopia will increase support to Eritrean rebels seeking to overthrow the government of President Isaias Afewerki, Ethiopia’s Foreign Ministry said.
“In the past, Ethiopia has given refuge to some opposition groups and some limited support to the Eritrean resistance,” the Addis Ababa-based ministry said in an e-mailed statement today. “Now support to the opposition will be strengthened further.”
The two countries fought a 1998-2000 border war that killed 70,000 people, according to Brussels-based International Crisis Group. Relations between the two countries have remained tense as each backed opposing factions in nearby Somalia’s civil war. Skirmishes between Ethiopian and Eritrean troops occasionally break out along their 912-kilometer (567-mile) border.
Ethiopia has previously accused Eritrea of supporting Ethiopian rebels and of attempting to disrupt last year’s parliamentary elections. Three calls made to Eritrea’s Ministry of Informationafter business hours were not answered.
“In light of Eritrea’s continuing nefarious campaigns, Ethiopia will continue to work to force the regime to change its policies,” the statement said. “Failing that it will be prepared to change the government itself through any means at its disposal.”
Afewerki and Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi led allied rebel groups that overthrew Ethiopia’s Communist Derg regime in 1991. Eritrea, formerly an Ethiopian province, won independence after a 1993 referendum.
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