UN Security Council to Hold Closed Talks on Northern Ethiopia Tensions

The UN Security Council is set to convene closed consultations on the deteriorating situation in northern Ethiopia, as renewed tensions threaten to unravel the fragile calm established by the 2022 Pretoria Agreement and raise the prospect of a wider regional conflict. An official from the UN Department of Political and Peace-building Affairs is expected to brief Council members during the session, according to the Security Council Report’s October 2026 Monthly Forecast, published on October 1. The forecast highlights growing concern among Council members over the potential regional fallout of the escalating friction.

“Although [UN Secretary-General António] Guterres spoke of a ‘wind of hope’ blowing across the Horn of Africa following the 2018 peace agreement between Ethiopia and Eritrea and the normalization of relations between Djibouti and Eritrea, that optimism was subsequently undermined by the outbreak of war in the Tigray region in November 2020,” the report states. “After a cessation of hostilities brought by the November 2022 Pretoria Agreement, renewed tensions now threaten another conflict that could draw neighboring countries into a wider regional war.” The warning comes less than four years after the Pretoria Agreement halted the two-year war in Tigray, though several key issues stemming from the conflict remain unresolved. The latest friction coincides with a sharp downturn in Ethiopia’s diplomatic relations with its neighbors.

On Thursday, Addis Ababa announced the closure of its embassy in Asmara and declared ten Eritrean diplomats persona non grata, ordering them to leave the country within 48 hours. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs accused Eritrea of engaging in “direct and indirect acts of hostility and belligerence.” Concurrently, Ethiopia declared Egyptian diplomatic staff member Ahmed Moharam Ahmed Soliman persona non grata, giving him 48 hours to depart. These expelled diplomats add to an increasingly volatile environment unfolding, where disputes involving Eritrea and Egypt intersect with broader Horn of Africa security challenges.

The Security Council Report frames the situation in northern Ethiopia within this wider regional instability, noting that the ongoing war in Sudan—between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF)—is driving shift-heavy alliances, including a recent alignment between the RSF and the Sudan…