Martin Plaut, School of Advanced Study, University of London
The origins of Ethiopia’s food crisis can be traced to a bitter feud between Eritrean and Tigrayan liberation fighters.
An Ethiopan soldier mans a position near Zala Anbesa in the northern Tigray region of the country, about 1,6 kilometres from the Eritrean border.
Marco Longari/AFP via Getty Images
Conflict between Eritrea and Tigray has long represented a destabilising fault line for Ethiopia as well as for the wider region.
A man from disputed Badme poses in front of a tank abandoned during the 1998-2000 Ethiopia-Eritrea war. The risk of a fresh war is remote.
Reuters/Ed Harris
Will the latest Ethiopia-Eritrea conflict spiral into a large-scale military confrontation? The odds are highly unlikely: neither side believes it would gain from such an eventuality.