2 October 2026
The World Food Programme warned that renewed conflict in Yemen has triggered a surge in hunger with consequences for the wider region.
Fighting between Government forces and Houthi rebels along the southwestern coast has forced nearly 150,000 people from their homes and disrupted markets.
More than 18 million people nationwide face acute food insecurity and some 2.2 million children under five are acutely malnourished.
Nearly three out of four households in accessible areas are unable to meet their basic needs.
The fighting has cut off access to parts of Taiz and Hudaydah, preventing the agency and its partners from reaching some 350,000 people.
At least 3,700 Yemenis have crossed the Bab al-Mandab Strait to seek shelter in Djibouti.
The agency noted that Bab al-Mandab, the Black Sea and the Strait of Hormuz are all under pressure at the same time.
Newly displaced:
nearly 150,000
Facing acute food insecurity:
more than 18 million
Acutely malnourished children under five:
some 2.2 million
Crossed to Djibouti:
at least 3,700
Why it matters for exams: Yemen, the Bab al-Mandab chokepoint and global food security link geography with current affairs.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
WFP World Food Programme — The UN agency that delivers food assistance in emergencies and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2020.
Bab al-Mandab Bab al-Mandab Strait — The narrow strait between Yemen and Djibouti linking the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden.
2 October 2026
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk told a session in Geneva that the war in Ukraine is a human rights catastrophe that is growing and intensifying by the week.
His office verified 15,280 civilians killed and injured in Ukraine in the first eight months of this year, an average of more than 400 every week and 55 per cent more than in the same period in 2025.
The use of aerial glide bombs in the Donetsk, Kharkiv, Sumy and Zaporizhzhia regions killed and injured nearly 2,500 civilians in those eight months, 62 per cent more than a year earlier.
Air raid alerts in Kyiv were active for 33 hours during one 48-hour period in the week before the briefing.
An estimated 2,000 people are trapped in Oleshky without running water, electricity or gas.
Mr Türk called for confidence-building measures including local ceasefires, an end to attacks on energy infrastructure and a full exchange of prisoners of war.
Civilian casualties in eight months:
15,280
Rise over the same period in 2025:
55 per cent
Casualties from glide bombs:
nearly 2,500
Why it matters for exams: The war in Ukraine and the UN human rights machinery are central to international relations questions.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
OHCHR Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights — The UN body that monitors and reports on human rights worldwide, based in Geneva.
Glide bomb Guided glide bomb — An ordinary bomb fitted with wings and guidance so an aircraft can release it far from the target.
Background
The Ministry of Defence describes the Andaman and Nicobar Command as the only operational joint services command of the country, with its Headquarters at Port Blair. A separate Ministry of Defence release headlines it the Tri-Service Andaman & Nicobar Command and calls it India's only joint theatre command. The Ministry records that since its inception in 2001 the Command has significantly enhanced its operational capabilities, and describes it as a successful Integrated Theatre Command of a kind now being planned at the national level. It is headed by the Commander-in-Chief, Andaman and Nicobar Command, abbreviated CINCAN. The ANC Joint Operations Centre is the nerve centre for integrated planning for surveillance, conduct of operations and logistic support. The Command's tasks include the security of the islands and the Exclusive Economic Zone around them and a role in humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, and the Ministry links its work to the Act East Policy and to the vision of Security and Growth for All in the Region, abbreviated SAGAR. Its air arm operates from INS Utkrosh at Port Blair, where the indigenous Advanced Light Helicopter MK III was inducted.
How the Ministry of Defence describes the Command:
the only operational joint services command of the country
Location of its Headquarters:
Port Blair
Year of inception:
2001
Designation of its head:
Commander-in-Chief Andaman and Nicobar Command (CINCAN)
Role of the ANC Joint Operations Centre:
the nerve centre for integrated planning for surveillance, conduct of operations and logistic support
Why it matters for exams: The unified command structure for these islands is the standard answer to any question on integrated or theatre commands in India, and both Kerala PSC and UPSC set questions on which command is tri-service and where its headquarters lies.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
CINCAN Commander-in-Chief, Andaman and Nicobar Command — The single officer who commands the Army, Navy and Air Force elements based in the islands.
Theatre command Integrated theatre command — A command in which units of all three services in one geographical area answer to one operational commander instead of to their own service headquarters.
EEZ Exclusive Economic Zone — The belt of sea up to 200 nautical miles from a country's coast in which it alone may exploit marine resources.
Background
India and France established diplomatic relations soon after India's independence in 1947. Launched on 26 January 1998, the Strategic Partnership with France was the first-ever for India with a Western nation, and the first for France with a non-Western nation. Defence and security, civil nuclear matters and space constitute the principal pillars of this strategic cooperation. In 2023 the two sides adopted the Horizon 2047 Roadmap, and in February 2026 the relationship was elevated to the level of a Special Global Strategic Partnership. In defence, the P-75 Scorpene Project saw the last and the sixth submarine commissioned in the Indian Navy in January 2025, the delivery of 36 Rafale aircrafts by France to India was completed in 2022, and on 28 April 2025 the two governments signed an Inter-Governmental Agreement for the procurement of 26 Rafale-M aircrafts for the Indian Navy. In space, ISRO and the French agency CNES have cooperated for over fifty years and have concluded an agreement for cooperation in the joint earth observation mission TRISHNA. Within the European Union, France is India's third-largest trading partner, after the Netherlands and Germany, and bilateral trade has more than doubled in the last decade to Euros 13.6 billion in 2025-26.
Strategic Partnership launched:
26 January 1998
Rafale aircraft delivered by France to India:
36 Rafale aircrafts
Rafale-M aircraft contracted for the Indian Navy:
26 Rafale-M aircrafts
ISRO-CNES joint earth observation mission:
TRISHNA
India-France bilateral trade:
Euros 13.6 billion in 2025-26
France's rank among India's trading partners in the EU:
third-largest trading partner, after the Netherlands and Germany
Why it matters for exams: India's bilateral relationship with France is asked as a set: the first strategic partnership with a Western nation, its three pillars, the Rafale and Scorpene deals, and the ISRO-CNES space track.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
CNES Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales — France's national space agency, ISRO's partner in joint missions and launch cooperation.
TRISHNA Thermal infraRed Imaging Satellite for High-resolution Natural resource Assessment — The joint earth observation mission that ISRO and CNES have agreed to cooperate on.
Horizon 2047 Roadmap Horizon 2047 Roadmap — The document adopted by India and France to set the course of the partnership up to the centenary of India's independence.
Background
The United Nations Security Council's page on its current members states that the Council is composed of 15 Members: five permanent members, namely China, France, Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, and the United States, and ten non-permanent members elected for two-year terms by the General Assembly. The same page notes that more than 50 United Nations Member States have never been Members of the Security Council. France is also an original member of the Atlantic Alliance. NATO records that on 4 April 1949 the Foreign Ministers from 12 countries signed the North Atlantic Treaty, also known as the Washington Treaty, and that NATO's founding member countries were Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom and the United States. At present, NATO has 32 member countries.
Members of the UN Security Council:
15 Members
Permanent members of the Security Council:
Five permanent members
Term of the non-permanent members:
two-year terms
Signatories of the North Atlantic Treaty:
12 countries
NATO member countries at present:
32 member countries
Why it matters for exams: The five permanent members and the founding membership of NATO are among the most repeated international organisation questions, and the two together explain why France sits at the top table of both bodies.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
Non-permanent member Non-permanent member of the UN Security Council — One of the ten Council seats filled by election in the General Assembly for a term of two years.
Washington Treaty North Atlantic Treaty — The founding treaty of NATO, signed by the foreign ministers of twelve countries in Washington, D.C.
Background
The Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols are international treaties containing the most important rules limiting the barbarity of war. There are four Geneva Conventions of 1949. They are supplemented by Protocol I and Protocol II, both of 1977, and Protocol III of 2005. They protect people who do not take part in the fighting — civilians, medics and aid workers — and those who can no longer fight, including the wounded, the sick, the shipwrecked and prisoners of war. The Conventions and their Protocols are at the core of international humanitarian law, the body of international law that regulates the conduct of armed conflict and seeks to limit its effects. They contain stringent rules on what are known as grave breaches: those who commit grave breaches must be pursued and tried or extradited, whatever their nationality. The United Nations records that the Additional Protocols were concluded under the auspices of the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Geneva Conventions of 1949:
4
Additional Protocols:
3 (1977, 1977, 2005)
Body of law:
International humanitarian law
Why it matters for exams: How many Geneva Conventions there are, and when each Additional Protocol was concluded, are frequently asked in general studies papers.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
IHL International humanitarian law — The law that regulates the conduct of armed conflict and seeks to limit its effects.
Background
The Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) is comprised of a Preamble, 24 Articles and 3 Annexes — the Annex on Chemicals, the Verification Annex and the Confidentiality Annex. It prohibits the development, production, acquisition, stockpiling, retention, transfer and use of chemical weapons by States Parties, which must also enforce that prohibition against persons within their jurisdiction. States Parties have agreed to destroy any stockpiles of chemical weapons they hold and the facilities that produced them, as well as chemical weapons they abandoned on the territory of other States Parties. The Convention creates a verification regime for certain toxic chemicals and their precursors, listed in Schedules 1, 2 and 3 in the Annex on Chemicals. A unique feature is the challenge inspection: any State Party in doubt about another State Party's compliance can request a surprise inspection, on the principle of 'any time, anywhere' inspections with no right of refusal. The OPCW records 193 States committed to the Convention and 100% of the chemical weapons stockpiles declared by possessor States verifiably destroyed.
Articles:
24
Annexes:
3
Schedules of chemicals:
Schedules 1, 2 and 3
States committed:
193
Declared stockpiles destroyed:
100%
Why it matters for exams: The challenge inspection rule and the Convention's structure of 24 Articles and 3 Annexes are the usual objective points.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
CWC Chemical Weapons Convention — The treaty that bans an entire category of weapons of mass destruction.
OPCW Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons — The body that implements the Convention and carries out its inspections.
Background
Austria's standing in international affairs rests less on its size than on the bodies it hosts, and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime is one of them.
UNODC has its headquarters in Vienna, Austria.
It was started in 1997.
It supports governments, criminal justice institutions and law enforcement in three areas: policy, data and research, and training and support.
It runs a network of field offices across the globe covering some 150 countries, and most of its staff and projects are on the ground rather than at headquarters.
Headquarters:
Vienna, Austria
Started:
1997
Field office coverage:
some 150 countries
Why it matters for exams: Which city hosts which United Nations body is a standard objective question, and Vienna is asked about as often as Geneva and Nairobi.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
UNODC United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime — The UN body that works on drugs, crime, corruption and terrorism, based in Vienna.
Field office Field office — An office an organisation keeps in the country where the work is done, rather than at its headquarters.
Background
Denmark, which hosted the NATO Military Committee Conference in Copenhagen, is one of the Alliance's Arctic Allies.
NATO states that five of its founding members - Canada, Denmark, Iceland, Norway and the United States - are Arctic states.
Seven of the eight Arctic states are now members of NATO, after Finland and Sweden joined the Alliance.
The Nordic Allies Denmark, Finland and Sweden were added to the area of responsibility of Joint Force Command Norfolk.
NATO's Arctic activity Arctic Sentry includes national exercises, among them Denmark's Arctic Endurance series of exercises.
NATO describes the Arctic and the High North as a region where it must strengthen awareness and presence.
NATO founding members that are Arctic states:
5 - Canada, Denmark, Iceland, Norway and the United States
Arctic states that are NATO members:
Seven of the eight
Danish exercise series:
Arctic Endurance
Command covering the Nordic Allies:
Joint Force Command Norfolk
Why it matters for exams: Questions on the Arctic regularly turn on which Arctic states belong to NATO and which Allies are Arctic founding members, and Denmark appears in both lists.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
High North High North — The northernmost reaches of the Atlantic and the Arctic, treated by NATO as a single strategic area.
Background
Three bodies shape Denmark's security and its regional role: NATO, the Nordic Council and the Arctic Council.
NATO's founding member countries were Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom and the United States; the twelve signed the North Atlantic Treaty in Washington, D.C.
The Nordic Council was established in 1952, and Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Sweden were founder members, with Finland joining later.
The Nordic Council has 87 elected members, of whom Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden have 20 each; the Faroe Islands and Aland joined in 1970 and Greenland in 1984.
The Arctic Council consists of the eight Arctic States: Canada, the Kingdom of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, the Russian Federation, Sweden and the United States.
Six Indigenous Peoples' organizations hold Permanent Participant status in the Arctic Council, among them the Inuit Circumpolar Council and the Saami Council.
NATO founding members:
12, including Denmark
Nordic Council established:
1952
Nordic Council members:
87 elected members
Arctic Council:
Eight Arctic States, six Permanent Participants
Why it matters for exams: The list of NATO's twelve founders and the membership of the Arctic Council are repeatedly asked in both state and central exams.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
Permanent Participant Permanent Participant — Status in the Arctic Council given to Indigenous Peoples' organizations, giving them full consultation rights.
Background
Belgium's defence commitments sit behind today's Belgian budget story, and its oldest such commitment is to the Atlantic Alliance.
NATO records that the North Atlantic Treaty was signed on 4 April 1949 in Washington, D.C.
NATO's founding member countries were Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Belgium is therefore an original signatory, not a later entrant.
All three Benelux countries, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, are founding members.
Belgium went on to host the Alliance's headquarters in Brussels.
Treaty signed:
4 April 1949
Place of signature:
Washington, D.C.
Founding members:
12
Why it matters for exams: The list of NATO's twelve founding members and the 1949 treaty date are classic objective questions.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
North Atlantic Treaty The founding treaty of NATO — Also called the Washington Treaty.
Benelux Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg — A customs and economic union of the three neighbouring states.
Background
Belgium's capital is the backdrop to today's Belgian news, from the federal budget negotiations to the national demonstration called in the city, and Brussels is also the seat of NATO.
NATO describes its Headquarters as located at Boulevard Leopold III in Brussels, Belgium.
It is the political and administrative centre of the Alliance and the permanent home of the North Atlantic Council.
The Headquarters moved to Belgium after France withdrew from NATO's integrated military command structure in 1966.
The new site in Belgium was built in six months and was inaugurated on 16 October 1967.
NATO's military command structure is separate from this political headquarters.
Address:
Boulevard Leopold III, Brussels
Inaugurated:
16 October 1967
Construction time:
six months
Why it matters for exams: Which city hosts which international body is among the most frequently asked static questions, and Brussels carries both NATO and the EU institutions.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization — A political and military alliance of North American and European states.
North Atlantic Council NATO's principal political decision-making body — Every Ally has a permanent seat on it.
2 October 2026
Ethiopia announced that it would close its embassy in the Eritrean capital Asmara and declared 10 Eritrean diplomats in Addis Ababa persona non grata, requiring them to leave within 48 hours.
Eritrea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs then said it had "no option but to reciprocate in kind and sever all diplomatic ties with Ethiopia".
Ethiopia also declared an Egyptian diplomat persona non grata, and Egypt expelled an Ethiopian embassy counsellor in return.
Federal forces are fighting the Tigray People's Liberation Front and allied groups across Tigray, Amhara and Afar; government-aligned forces say they took the town of Alamata on 28 September 2026.
Seven Ethiopian armed and political groups announced an alliance on 20 September 2026 called the Ethiopian Peoples' Forces Alliance for Survival.
The rupture reverses the rapprochement of 2018, for which Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019.
Ethiopia lost its coastline when Eritrea became independent in 1993.
Eritrean diplomats expelled:
10
Time given to leave:
48 hours
Opposition alliance announced:
20 September 2026
Eritrean independence:
1993
Why it matters for exams: The Horn of Africa, Red Sea access and Ethiopia's landlocked status are standard map and current affairs topics.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Persona non grata A diplomat declared unacceptable by the host state — The host country may require such a diplomat to leave within a stated time.
TPLF Tigray People's Liberation Front — The dominant political and armed movement in Ethiopia's Tigray region.
Asmara Capital of Eritrea — Ethiopia's embassy there is being closed.
2 October 2026
The UN General Assembly met on Thursday to examine the Security Council's latest veto, cast by China and Russia against a United States-backed panel of experts on Iran's nuclear facilities.
The veto initiative, established in 2022, requires the General Assembly to meet within 10 working days of any veto cast in the Security Council.
The five permanent members with the veto are China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States; a single negative vote by any of them defeats a resolution.
Khalilur Rahman, President of the Assembly's 81st session, said the veto initiative "cannot substitute for effective Security Council action".
Sun Lei, Deputy Permanent Representative of China, said his delegation voted against the draft to uphold "a correct sense of right and wrong".
Hedda Samson, Deputy Head of the European Union delegation, said the need for a panel of experts is "even great today".
The Assembly President will send a summary of the discussion back to the Security Council.
Date of debate:
1 October 2026
Veto initiative established:
2022
Deadline for Assembly to meet:
Within 10 working days of a veto
Permanent members holding the veto:
5
Why it matters for exams: The veto initiative of 2022 is a standard question on how the General Assembly checks the Security Council.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Veto Negative vote by a permanent member of the UN Security Council — A single negative vote by China, France, Russia, the UK or the US defeats a draft resolution.
Panel of experts Group of specialists monitoring a UN sanctions regime — Such panels report to the Security Council on how far sanctions are being observed.
JCPOA Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action — The 2015 agreement on Iran's nuclear programme.
1 October 2026
Kelley E. Currie, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, said in Geneva that she was gravely concerned by Malaysia's move to return 5,000 Myanmar nationals, including women and children, under a programme agreed with Myanmar's military authorities.
She said the conditions necessary for a safe, dignified, sustainable and genuinely voluntary return are not currently in place, and that the risk of refoulement is substantial.
She described the military's restrictions on humanitarian access and independent monitoring as severe, including at camps for displaced people in Rakhine State under military control.
The first group of 1,476 people was returned from Malaysia beginning on 29 September.
The statement also recorded that on 28 September the Myanmar military struck the India Market in Pike Thae village, Kyauktaw Township, Rakhine State, killing more than 50 civilians, with many more injured.
Special Rapporteurs are independent experts appointed by the Human Rights Council who serve in an individual capacity and are not United Nations staff.
Myanmar nationals to be returned:
5,000
First group returned:
1,476
Civilians killed at Kyauktaw:
more than 50
Why it matters for exams: A primary United Nations statement that names the mandate, the place and the figures is exactly the kind of source an examiner builds a question from.
UPSC
In plain words
Refoulement Forced return to a place of danger — Sending a person back to a country where they face a real risk of serious harm.
Rakhine State Western coastal state of Myanmar — A state on Myanmar's west coast facing the Bay of Bengal, with a large displaced population.
1 October 2026
The UN General Assembly met on Thursday to examine a Security Council veto cast by China and Russia.
The vetoed draft was backed by the United States and concerned a sanctions panel of experts on Iran's nuclear facilities.
The Assembly's veto initiative, established in 2022, requires it to meet within 10 working days of any veto in the Council.
The permanent members are China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States; a vote against by any one of them makes a resolution fail.
Assembly President Khalilur Rahman will send a summary of the debate back to the Security Council.
Veto cast by:
China and Russia
Assembly must meet within:
10 working days
Veto initiative established:
2022
Assembly President:
Khalilur Rahman
Why it matters for exams: UN Security Council veto powers and the General Assembly's 2022 veto initiative are staple UN-structure questions.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Veto Latin: 'I forbid' — The power of a permanent Security Council member to block a resolution by voting against it.
Panel of experts — A small group of independent experts that monitors how UN sanctions are applied.
1 October 2026
The enduring radioactive legacy of US nuclear bomb testing in the Marshall Islands took centre stage at the UN Human Rights Council on Thursday, 1 October 2026.
Addressing the impact of 67 known tests conducted between 1946 and 1958, UN deputy rights chief Awa Dabo said it lives on in the bodies of Marshallese people, in "lands poisoned and communities displaced".
She said justice must be served for the people unable to return to the contaminated atolls, and that the health consequences include elevated rates of cancer.
Ms. Dabo said Marshallese communities have the right to an effective remedy, and called on US authorities to declassify information about data on radiation exposure and testing records.
The page adds that the health consequences of repeated nuclear testing were also highlighted this week at a high-level General Assembly meeting.
Known nuclear tests:
67
Testing period:
1946-1958
Speaker:
Awa Dabo, UN deputy rights chief
Why it matters for exams: Nuclear testing, the Human Rights Council and the right to remedy are recurring themes in world-affairs and human-rights questions.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Atoll A ring-shaped coral island — The Marshall Islands are made up of coral atolls; some contaminated ones cannot be resettled.
1 October 2026
A key transit centre for patients needing Ebola treatment burned down in Kigonze camp, Ituri province, eastern DR Congo, on the evening of 29 September 2026, the UN said on 1 October.
Julien Harneis, the UN's senior Ebola response official in the DRC, said: "when we lose a centre, that means we lose capacity, we lose investment and we have to start again".
The camp sheltered some 19,000 people fleeing violence; it now lies abandoned after thousands fled following reports that soldiers had entered searching for weapons.
Ebola has spread across seven provinces since the public health emergency was declared in mid-May; this is the country's 17th outbreak.
Fighting in Ituri has also delayed the transport of laboratory samples and disrupted the transfer of confirmed patients.
Province:
Ituri
People sheltered in the camp:
some 19,000
Provinces affected by the outbreak:
seven
Why it matters for exams: Outbreaks in conflict zones and the UN's emergency health response are standard health and world-affairs topics.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
OCHA UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs — The UN aid coordination office that tracks displacement and access in the DRC.
1 October 2026
The UN General Assembly met on 1 October 2026 to consider the Security Council veto that blocked renewal of the Panel of Experts monitoring sanctions on Iran.
The Assembly meets automatically in such cases under the veto initiative, the standing mandate created by General Assembly resolution 76/262.
The United Kingdom's Permanent Representative, Ambassador Sarah MacIntosh, told the Assembly that UN sanctions on Iranian proliferation remain fully in force and are binding on all Member States despite the vetoes.
She said Iran has accumulated over 400 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60 per cent, a level no other non-nuclear-weapon state has reached.
The draft resolution, which would have extended the panel's mandate by one year, was vetoed by Russia and China on 18 September 2026; 11 members voted in favour and Somalia and Pakistan abstained.
Enriched uranium stockpile cited:
over 400 kilograms at 60 per cent
Security Council vote on the draft:
11 in favour, 2 vetoes, 2 abstentions
Veto initiative resolution:
76/262
Why it matters for exams: The veto initiative under resolution 76/262 is exactly the kind of UN procedural mechanism examiners ask about, and the item ties it to a dated, specific veto.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
veto initiative General Assembly resolution 76/262 — A standing mandate under which the General Assembly meets to debate any situation in which a veto is cast in the Security Council.
Panel of Experts Panel of Experts — A group of specialists appointed to monitor and report on compliance with a Security Council sanctions regime.
1 October 2026
Eritrea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on 1 October 2026 that it was severing all diplomatic ties with Ethiopia.
The announcement followed Ethiopia's decision to shut its embassy in Asmara and to declare 10 Eritrean diplomats persona non grata, giving them 48 hours to leave.
Ethiopia said the expelled diplomats posed a direct threat to its national security.
Eritrea said it had no option but to reciprocate in kind.
The rupture came after heavy fighting broke out in northern Ethiopia between federal forces and the Tigray People's Liberation Front; Ethiopia said Eritrea was supporting the TPLF.
Eritrea became independent of Ethiopia in 1993, and Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed had normalised relations with Asmara in 2018.
Eritrean diplomats declared persona non grata:
10
Time given to leave:
48 hours
Eritrean independence:
1993
Why it matters for exams: A complete diplomatic break between two Horn of Africa states tests both the Vienna Convention vocabulary of expulsion and the map and history of Ethiopia and Eritrea.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
persona non grata person not welcome — A declaration by which a receiving state requires a foreign diplomat to leave, without having to give reasons.
TPLF Tigray People's Liberation Front — The armed political movement based in Ethiopia's northern Tigray region.