Ethiopian forces entered Eritrea on Thursday and carried out what Ethiopian government spokesman Shimeles Kemal described as “a successful attack” against military posts.
Ethiopia launched the attack because Eritrea was training “subversive groups” that carried out attacks inside Ethiopia, he said.
Ethiopia and Eritrea fought a border war from 1998 to 2000. Tensions have reignited between the countries in recent months.
No details about the military operation or any damage or casualties were immediately released.
The “Eritrean government has continued launching attacks at Ethiopia through its proxy groups. The attacks had continued and the recent attacks against European tourists is one of the reasons for the retaliation,” Shimeles said.
Militants attacked European tourists from five nations traveling in Ethiopia’s arid north in January. Five tourists were killed and two were kidnapped.
The two kidnapped German tourists have since been released.
Ethiopia blamed gunmen from Eritrea for the attack.
The attacks on by Ethiopian forces took place about 16km inside Eritrea’s territory in the areas of Gelakalay and Gimbina, Shimeles said. The forces have since returned to Ethiopia, he added.
“Today’s measures do not constitute a direct military confrontation between the two countries. The Ethiopian defense force has entered into Eritrea and launched a successful attack against military posts that have been used to organize, finance and train the -subversive groups,” Shimeles said.
He said it was unlikely that Eritrea would retaliate because it is “not in a position to launch a counter attack.”
The Eritrean ambassador to the Addis Ababa-based African Union, Girma Asmerom, did not immediately respond to telephone calls seeking comment.
Rashid Abdi, a regional analyst who formerly worked for the International Crisis Group, called Ethiopia’s attack a “very unwelcome piece of news” that will affect the conflict in Somalia, where Ethiopian troops are fighting the militant group al-Shabaab.
He said the Ethiopia-Eritrea conflict could escalate if the US or EU did not step in to mediate.
“Even if Eritrea does not carry out a retaliatory strike, it will try to step things up in Somalia by rearming al-Shabaab,” he said. “Even though Ethiopia is the pre-eminent military power in East Africa, I doubt it has the capacity to fight two wars at once.”
An Ethiopian government statement said it believed that disputes between neighboring countries should be resolved peacefully, but that efforts to reach a negotiated settlement were rebuffed and that the attack on Thursday would “convey the right message” to Eritrea.
The border war between the two countries killed about 80,000 people. Recent signs have pointed to growing tension in the region.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi told the country’s parliament in April last year that his government would actively support Eritrean opposition groups to help topple that country’s government. Ethiopia also blames Eritrea for planning bomb attacks on several targets in Addis Ababa during an African Union summit in January last year.
Eritrea does not receive foreign aid and is sanctioned by the UN because of human rights violations. UN reports have indicated that Eritrea has supported al-Shabaab, though Eritrea has denied those accusations.
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