U.S. Urges Ethiopia and Eritrea to Exercise Maximum Restraint

The State Department warned recent fighting and diplomatic breakdowns risk spreading instability across the Horn of Africa.

Overview

The United States issued a public appeal on Saturday urging Ethiopia and Eritrea to show “maximum restraint” as tensions along their shared border have sharply risen.
State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott warned that increasing cross‑border tensions could affect the entire region and risk triggering a new humanitarian crisis.
Washington called on both governments to respect the sovereignty of neighboring states and to return to dialogue under the 2018 peace framework while not announcing new sanctions.
Renewed fighting in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region has produced displacement, reported strikes, disrupted access for aid workers, and led to diplomatic expulsions and embassy closures between Addis Ababa and Asmara.
Eritrea won independence from Ethiopia in 1993 and the pair fought a bloody border war from 1998–2000 before relations were restored by the 2018 agreement, a recent context that helps explain why U.S. officials urge a diplomatic return to that framework and warn of wider regional fallout.