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Eight Ethiopian soldiers have defected to Eritrea, Eritrea's government says.
A statement from the information ministry said the troops had acted in protest at what it described as Ethiopia's invasion of Somalia.
Photo: Brig. Gen. Kemal Geltu defected to Eritrea with with 150 Ethiopian soldiers on 10 August 2006. Since, he was followed by several defections.
Analysts fear Somalia could become a proxy battleground for Ethiopia and Eritrea, who back opposite sides in the unrest there.
The two countries fought a border war between 1998-2000 in which more than 70,000 people were killed.
A peace deal, under which both countries agreed to a final decision demarcating their shared border, has faltered because of differences over ownership of a town.
Unrest in Somalia is exacerbating tensions between the two sides.
The Ethiopian government backs Somalia's transitional government, while Eritrea is said to back an Islamic militia, the Union of Islamic Courts, which now controls much of the south of the country.
Asmara and Addis Ababa both deny sending arms and soldiers to Somalia.
Several senior officers, health professionals and a number of nurses were among the defectors, the Eritrean ministry said.
The soldiers acted because troops and health professionals were being imprisoned following the defection of two Ethiopian generals last month, the report said.
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