Ethiopia accuses Eritrea and Sudan of supporting Tigray rebels as fighting escalates
Ethiopia’s army chief on Sunday accused Eritrea and Sudan of supporting armed groups battling federal forces, as renewed clashes with Tigrayan rebels raised fears that the country could slide back into a devastating civil war. The Tigray People’s Liberation Front said it was fighting a “defensive war” and captured several airports. A humanitarian source said rebels also seized the Afar town of Erebti on Sunday.
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Heavy fighting between the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and the federal government has continued since Wednesday, reviving memories of the 2020-2022 conflict in which an estimated 600,000 people were killed.
The TPLF has launched attacks into the neighbouring Afar and Amhara regions, arguing that its operations are defensive measures against Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government.
In Afar, the town of Erebti, close to the Tigray border, fell to the rebels on Sunday after coming under heavy artillery fire, according to a humanitarian source.
The source said the TPLF was advancing towards Afdeera, a town roughly 100 kilometres (60 miles) east of Erebti.
At least 150,000 people have been displaced in Afar, the source estimated, while stressing that an exact figure could not be confirmed.
Speaking on the army’s YouTube channel, army chief Field Marshal Birhanu Jula said the military was confronting forces aligned with outside interests.
“We are fighting forces that are organised and allied to serve the interests of external forces,” he said.
“Neither Shaebia (Eritrea) nor the TPLF can achieve anything alone, even if they are allied, unless they are backed, supported and supplied by Sudan, Egypt and other external powers,” he added.
TV station attack
The TPLF has formed an alliance with seven armed groups across Ethiopia and appears to be reviving a strategy used during the previous war: advancing south through Amhara towards the capital, Addis Ababa.
Its offensive in Afar could threaten supply routes from Djibouti, the conduit for almost all of Ethiopia’s international trade cargo, including fuel.
A drone struck the headquarters of Tigrai TV on Sunday, the main broadcaster associated with the rebel authorities in Mekelle, the capital of Tigray.
“We heard a loud bang from a drone strike elsewhere and we fled the building,” a journalist from the station told AFP, speaking anonymously.
The channel has not issued a public statement about the incident.
Images taken by a local journalist showed the facade of the Tigrai TV building damaged and blackened, with numerous windows shattered by the blast.
Another journalist said the station, which employs about 400 people, had gone off-air following the strike. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
On September 21, the federal government in Addis Ababa said Tigrai TV had been suspended “indefinitely” and prohibited other media outlets from broadcasting its reports.
Blockade
Reporting from Tigray has become increasingly difficult since Friday, when telecommunications providers reported major disruptions to phone and internet services across the region.
Many residents fear a repeat of the blockade imposed by the federal government during the 2020-2022 war, when electricity and banking services were cut and almost all humanitarian aid was blocked.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres voiced concern on Friday. His spokesman said Guterres was “particularly troubled by reports of the use of drones as well as incidents of harm to civilians”.
The federal government holds a substantial military advantage, including a large drone arsenal, an estimated 500,000 troops and foreign support, particularly from the United Arab Emirates.
However, the fighting could pull neighbouring Eritrea into the conflict on the rebels’ side. Eritrea fears that landlocked Ethiopia has been preparing to invade and secure direct access to the Red Sea.
The TPLF governed Ethiopia from 1991 until 2018, when it was pushed aside following Abiy’s ascent to the premiership.
That political rupture led to a civil war marked by widespread war crimes and sexual violence.
The Pretoria Peace Agreement of 2022, brokered by African institutions and Washington, brought an uneasy calm that lasted until last year. The deal was never fully implemented, however, and about one million people remain unable to return to their homes.
Clashes later resumed intermittently, with federal forces carrying out multiple drone strikes in Tigray in recent months and concentrating troops near the border.
Rights groups have accused the TPLF of carrying out forced recruitment this year as it prepared for a possible return to war.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
