The Ethiopian government has issued an ultimatum to Ireland over its stance on the nation's near two-year conflict, accusing it of hostility in international forums and warning about future diplomatic ties.
"Ireland has been barbing and undermining Ethiopia incessantly in its real earnest for the last 2yrs," Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's national security adviser Redwan Hussein said on Twitter.
"(The government's) plea made for the umpteenth time has been rebuffed & unheeded. Hence obliged to send an official ultimatum this week for Irish government," he added last night, without further detail.
Mr Redwan described the relationship between the two countries as "at its nadir".
It was not immediately clear what sparked the anger against Ireland, which currently holds a seat on the 15-member UN Security Council.
The Department of Foreign Affairs said at the time the Ethiopian authorities had indicated the decision "was due to the positions Ireland has articulated internationally... on the ongoing conflict and humanitarian crisis in Ethiopia".
The expulsion occurred three weeks after Ireland joined a UN Security Council call for a ceasefire in the war in northern Ethiopia and for dialogue between the warring sides.
In a statement carried by Fana Broadcasting Corporate, the foreign ministry urged the Irish Government "to refrain from further hostility against Ethiopia".
It complained that instead of supporting government efforts to end the conflict between government forces and the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), and introduce political and economic reforms, "Ireland has continued attacking Ethiopia using its membership in the UN Security Council, the European Union, and elsewhere".
It said Ireland "appears to be intent on emboldening the TPLF and calling for coercive actions against Ethiopia using its membership in the UNSC," also charging that the Irish Government was standing in the way of Ethiopian efforts to normalise ties with the EU.
"As a measure of last resort, we can find an opportunity to deliberate whether there is a mutual will to pursue our diplomatic ties," the ministry warned.
A spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs said Minister Coveney had received a letter from Ethiopia's Deputy Prime Minister, Demeke Mekonen, and that he has responded in writing today.
"Ireland has a longstanding relationship with Ethiopia and its people, with diplomatic relations going back 30 years," said the spokesperson.
"Ethiopia remains the largest partner country for our development programme. Over the past two years, since the start of the conflict in northern Ethiopia, Ireland has consistently voiced concern, bilaterally with Ethiopia, as a member of the UN Security Council and as a member of the EU.
"We have focused on the need to end hostilities and to ensure humanitarian access to all in need, and we have strongly encouraged political dialogue to find a solution to the crisis. We fully support mediation efforts being led by the African Union."
Relations between Ethiopia and the EU have soured over the conflict, which erupted in November 2020 and has since killed untold numbers of people and triggered a major humanitarian crisis.
Ireland, which has had a diplomatic presence in Ethiopia since 1994, currently advises against all travel to many areas of Ethiopia including Tigray and the neighbouring regions of Afar and Amhara.
