Legal consequences of Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s unprecedented declaration attributing the instigation of the Eritrea-Ethiopia border war to Ethiopia’s previous ruling party

ABSTRACT In 2005, the Eritrea-Ethiopia Claims Commission decided in the Jus ad Bellum award that Eritrea unlawfully used force at the start of the border war between Eritrea and Ethiopia. In September 2021, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed wrote a letter to United States’ President Joe Biden stating that the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, which was at the head of Ethiopia’s previous ruling coalition, instigated the war. This article examines the nature and legal effects of that letter under international law, especially its impact on the award and the yet-to-be-composed fact-finding body, and recommends steps in the context of strengthening the warming relations between the two states.