Ethiopia Shuts Its Asmara Embassy and Orders Eleven Diplomats Out

Ethiopia has closed its embassy in Asmara, ordered ten Eritrean diplomats to leave the country within 48 hours, and given the same 48 hours to an Egyptian diplomat at the embassy in Addis Abeba. Three expulsions on two fronts, announced inside a single day.

What was announced

The Foreign Ministry said it had decided to close the Ethiopian embassy in Asmara in response to what it called direct and indirect acts of hostility and provocation from Eritrea, and declared ten Eritrean diplomats serving in Addis Abeba unacceptable persons, citing activities it described as a direct threat to Ethiopia's national security.

Separately, the ministry named Ahmed Moharam Ahmed Soliman, a staff member at the Egyptian embassy in Addis Abeba, persona non grata and ordered him out within 48 hours. The ministry said the decision was taken in accordance with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. It did not say what he is alleged to have done.

Fana Television, reporting the moves together under the heading of a decision to maintain and strengthen sovereignty, said the decision was not made suddenly.

What it means for business

Two diplomatic channels closing in a week is not a market event on its own. The transmission runs through three places that are: insurance and freight routing in the Red Sea corridor, the Nile file and everything financed against it, and the risk premium on anything with an Ethiopian counterparty. Importers with Red Sea exposure should expect quotes to move before any policy does.

Ethiopia's access to the sea and Egypt's position on the Nile are the two underlying disputes, and neither closes with an expulsion.

Open

Neither Asmara nor Cairo had responded publicly at the time of writing. The ministry has not published the conduct it attributes to the ten Eritrean diplomats or to the Egyptian official, and has not said whether Eritrea's mission in Addis Abeba stays open, what consular arrangements now cover Ethiopians in Eritrea, or whether the Asmara closure is permanent.

Sources: Fana Television, 2 October 2026, Fana Television, 1 October 2026, Fana Television, 1 October 2026, Birr Metrics, 1 October 2026, Birr Metrics, 2 October 2026