Fighting erupts over Eritrean armed incursion into Djibouti

An armed standoff had lasted for several weeks, after reports emerged from Djibouti of an Eritrean incursion about 20 kilometers into its territory on May 6. On May 8 Djiboutis ambassador to the United Nations, Roble Olhaye, told the BBC: We wanted to urge the Security Council to take all necessary measures to prevent any kind of conflagration because the prospect of a real war is there.

Eritrea denied that a border incursion was taking place. Its UN Ambassador, Grirma Asmerom, told the BBC: There is no such problem with Djibouti; we have never had a problem with Djibouti.

The Eritrea-Djibouti border has been a long-standing source of disagreement between the two countries, however. It was fixed by vague language in a 1901 treaty between France (then the colonial power in Djibouti) and Italy (the colonial power in Ethiopia).

On May 19 Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki described talk of an Eritrean intervention as a wild invention. Africa Confidential then reported on May 23 that Djiboutis President Ismaïl Omar Guelleh had requested arbitration by Qatar, a Persian Gulf state allied to Eritrea, and Egypt.