← The Horn
Bonus Episode | How Close Are Ethiopia and Eritrea to All-out War? artwork

Bonus Episode | How Close Are Ethiopia and Eritrea to All-out War?

The Horn
39:28
Play episode

Show notes

Today on The Horn, we are bringing you a bonus episode on the rising risk of war between Ethiopia and Eritrea from Crisis Group's Global Podcast Hold Your Fire!. This week on Hold Your Fire!, Richard is joined by Alan Boswell, Crisis Group’s Horn of Africa director, to discuss the fighting in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region and the risk of an all-out war between Ethiopia and Eritrea. They examine federal forces’ recapture of Tigray’s capital Mekelle and what has changed since the previous war. They explore Eritrea’s calculations in backing its former enemy, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, and whether Ethiopian advances toward the Eritrean border could bring the two countries into direct conflict. They also discuss Ethiopia’s push for Red Sea access and how it has further fuelled tensions with Eritrea. Turning to the wider region, they assess how Middle Eastern powers’ competing interests could shape their responses to a war between Ethiopia and Eritrea, and the risk of such a conflict becoming entangled with wars in Sudan. Finally, they consider what an urgent diplomatic effort to prevent further escalation would require. For more, check out our last episode Back to War in Ethiopia? our statement Arresting the Dangerous Descent Back into War in Northern Ethiopia and our Horn of Africa page. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

More from this show

More
  1. Ethiopia and Eritrea, On the Cusp of War

    In this episode of The Horn, Alan is joined by Michael Woldemariam, associate professor at the University of Maryland, to discuss the conflict in northern Ethiopia and whether it c…

    S8 E439:35
  2. Inside Sudan’s War

    In this episode of The Horn, Alan is joined by Yousra Elbagir, Sky News’s Africa correspondent and winner of the RTS Network Television Journalist of the Year award 2026, to discus…

    S8 E358:14
  3. Bonus Episode | Back to War in Ethiopia?

    Today on The Horn, we are bringing you a bonus episode on Ethiopia from Crisis Group's Global Podcast Hold Your Fire!. In this episode, Richard Atwood speaks with Crisis Group’s A…

    37:35
  4. Bonus Episode | Two Shores, One Sea: The Horn of Africa and West Asia in a Contested Red Sea

    Today we're sharing a bonus episode from the WASSAP podcast, where Alan joins hosts Désirée Custers and Hubert Kinkoh to explore the growing interconnectedness of the Horn of Afric…

    43:00
  5. The Houthis, the Saudis and the New Red Sea Politics

    In this episode of The Horn, Alan is joined by Crisis Group’s Arabian Peninsula director Yasmine Farouk and senior Yemen analyst Ahmed Nagi to explore why Yemen’s truce is unravell…

    S8 E247:11
  6. Somalia’s End-of-year Cliffhanger

    This week on The Horn, Alan talks with Samira Gaid, founder and senior analyst at the Mogadishu-based think tank Balqiis, about the possible end of UNSOS, the UN logistics operatio…

    S8 E132:20
Now Playing