Ethiopia closed its embassy in Asmara on 1 October and gave 10 Eritrean diplomats 48 hours to leave, citing “direct and indirect acts of hostility and belligerence”. Eritrea rejected the charge and severed all diplomatic ties. Addis Ababa accuses Asmara of backing the alliance led by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which has fought federal forces since 23 September, while Eritrea says Ethiopia arms Eritrean rebels and covets its Red Sea coast. The break reverses the 2018 peace deal and removes a direct channel between two armies facing each other across a heavily militarised border. Any clash there would turn Ethiopia’s internal war into an interstate one.