{"id":179445,"date":"2026-10-02T00:10:57","date_gmt":"2026-10-02T04:10:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/?p=179445"},"modified":"2026-10-02T00:42:48","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T04:42:48","slug":"ethiopian-govt-closes-asmara-embassy-and-orders-10-eritrean-diplomats-to-leave","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/179445","title":{"rendered":"Ethiopian Gov\u2019t Closes Asmara Embassy and Orders 10 Eritrean Diplomats to Leave"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Thursday, October 1, 2026, that it would close Ethiopia\u2019s embassy in Asmara and declared 10 Eritrean diplomats persona non grata, Mereja.com<\/a> reported. Fana Media Corporation, cited in that report, said the diplomats had 48 hours to leave and were accused of activities that pose a direct threat to national security. The ministry described the closure as a response to what it called Eritrea\u2019s direct and indirect acts of hostility against Ethiopia, and it said the country remains committed to a peaceful resolution and to the ties between the two peoples.<\/p>\n

\"Skyline
Skyline of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Photo: Simfan34 \/ Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Eritrea\u2019s Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel told Reuters, as carried by Mereja.com, that the expulsions effectively closed Eritrea\u2019s embassy in Addis Ababa. Eritrea\u2019s Foreign Ministry then said it had no option but to sever all diplomatic ties with Ethiopia. A statement dated October 1 called the accusations astounding and said Ethiopia had pursued hostility over access to the sea, according to the same Mereja.com roundup, which cited Al Jazeera and Dehai News.<\/p>\n

The same day, Ethiopia ordered Egyptian diplomat Ahmed Moharam Ahmed Soliman to leave within 48 hours, and the notice gave no public reason, Mereja.com reported, citing Radio Tamazuj and the Ethiopian News Agency. Egypt then ordered an Ethiopian embassy counsellor in Cairo to leave within 48 hours. An Egyptian Foreign Ministry source called Ethiopia\u2019s move regrettable and unjustified and said Cairo acted on reciprocity. The African Union Commission said it was following tensions among Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Egypt with concern and asked the three governments to use diplomatic channels.<\/p>\n

Separately, residents have told Mereja.com of further blasts overnight into Friday near the palace at 4 Kilo and near the Fana Broadcasting headquarters in Addis Ababa. Mereja.com has not confirmed those accounts, and it said no official or wire report of new explosions at either site was found in the early hours of Friday, October 2. Those resident accounts are separate from explosions that news agencies described overnight into Thursday in other parts of the capital. Mereja.com also said it found no published report linking the unverified Friday accounts to the diplomat expulsions.<\/p>\n

Source: Mereja.com<\/a>, Ethiopian Government closes Asmara embassy as residents report unverified Addis blasts, by Yonas Mikael, October 1, 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Thursday, October 1, 2026, that it would close Ethiopia\u2019s embassy in Asmara and declared 10 Eritrean diplomats persona non grata, Mereja.com reported. Fana Media Corporation, cited in that report, said the diplomats…<\/span> Read more ›<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":179457,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[4993],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/179445.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179445"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=179445"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179445\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":179460,"href":"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179445\/revisions\/179460"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/179457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=179445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}