Ethiopia Denies Eritrea Troops Crossed Border Amid Renewed Tigray Fighting
An Ethiopian official promised "visible change" in the Tigray region after government-aligned forces retook the capital, Mekelle, while Ethiopia's government accused Eritrea of troop incursions.
Government-allied forces have retaken Mekelle, the capital of Ethiopia's northern Tigray region, following renewed fighting that has complicated a 2022 peace agreement. Ethiopian Airlines resumed flights to the city on Sunday, the first time since rebels affiliated with the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) seized the airport on September 23. The rebels withdrew on October 3, when government-aligned fighters entered the city.
Getachew Reda, an adviser to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and a former Tigray leader, promised supporters at the Mekelle airport that they would "bring visible change, a change beyond mere hope." He did not provide further details.
The recent conflict has raised concerns about the stability of the peace agreement that ended a brutal two-year war in 2022. That war, according to researchers at Ghent University in Belgium, resulted in approximately 500,000 civilian deaths due to violence, famine, and the collapse of health services.
Last month, the TPLF joined an alliance with six other opposition groups aiming to remove Prime Minister Abiy from power.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres urged all parties to cease hostilities and resume dialogue, warning that the ongoing fighting could further destabilize the wider region. The U.N. Security Council received a letter from Ethiopia on Friday stating that the country was taking self-defense measures and accusing Eritrea of sending troops across the border and occupying parts of northern Ethiopia. Ethiopian authorities have previously accused Eritrea of supporting the TPLF, an allegation Eritrea has denied.
Ethiopian Foreign Minister Gedion Timothewos did not specify the self-defense measures in his letter to the Security Council, nor did he identify the alleged occupied areas or provide evidence. The Eritrean Foreign Minister, Osman Saleh, urged the Security Council to condemn what he called Ethiopia's "deplorable declaration of war," without confirming or denying the alleged troop crossings. The dispute has exacerbated tensions between Ethiopia and Eritrea, whose armies had previously collaborated against the TPLF during the 2020-2022 war.