Ethiopia's Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn has blamed Eritrea for the recent border skirmish, the BBC reported on Tuesday.

In a speech to the parliament in Addis Ababa, he said Eritrea carried out the "provocation" in a bid to divert attention away from the report of the UN-appointed commission of inquiry on the human rights situation in the country, which accused the Eritrean government of committing "crimes against humanity".

Eritrea has dismissed the report as "baseless".

"What we did was to retaliate and silence [Eritrea]," he said.

He threatened: "We will respond to every action it takes to destabilize Ethiopia. We will intensify this policy of ours. If that shaky government wants to talk to us, our doors are open."

The border between Ethiopia and Eritrea has not been demarcated despite a 2000 peace deal that ended the countries' border war.

Source: MENA