Ethiopia's Army Accuses Eritrea of Funding the Armed Alliance
In his first comments on the escalation, the army chief of staff, Field Marshal Berhanu Jula, accused Eritrea of funding and supporting armed groups to weaken Ethiopia, calling the new seven-group alliance the latest in a long pattern of hostile alliances that cannot confront the state without outside backing. Eritrea denied it. He said the army was meeting provocations from the Tigray front with “wisdom and restraint”.
Eritrea rejected the accusation, wary that landlocked Ethiopia wants to invade it to reach the Red Sea. Restraint is a strange word for a week in which the army says it killed 272 fighters and wounded 260 in a counter-offensive in North Wollo, and the gap between the language and the casualty claims is the story. The command says it prefers “strategic calm” to a large-scale confrontation, arguing that support for the Tigray side is dwindling and its leadership divided. The other side describes something else entirely: the Tigray People’s Liberation Front says the government launched a “full-scale offensive” using infantry, mechanised units and drones, and a member of its central committee, Abdisalam Balema, called the situation a “full war”. The latest battles are around Abala in Afar, with fighting also at Sama, Soqota and Raya Alamata. Seven armed groups have now formed an alliance committed to removing Abiy Ahmed’s government, which threatens to connect separate insurgencies into one. The 2022 Pretoria agreement is under severe strain, weeks after Washington lifted the atrocity sanctions imposed over the last war. Watch whether the African Union gets either side to talk.