Ethiopia says Eritrean forces advanced into Tigray

Ethiopia accused Eritrea on 9 October of sending forces into its northern Tigray region, where renewed fighting involving the Ethiopian army and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front has been reported for two weeks. Ethiopian officials said the country would defend itself after Eritrean troops were reported to have advanced across the border and come under drone attack near Adigrat.¹²

Reported advance and strikes

Residents and other sources cited in reports said military vehicles carrying Eritrean soldiers crossed the southern Eritrean border into Tigray and reached Adigrat. Further reported movements took convoys from Zalambessa through Adigrat in the direction of Edaga Hamus, while Eritrean troops were said to have reached up to 60km inside Tigray. One Adigrat resident said: “I saw about 40 trucks carrying soldiers. The convoy was moving south.”¹²

Ethiopian government drones targeted Eritrean forces, according to reports from both outlets. The conflict-monitoring group Acled said multiple strikes hit Eritrean troops and ammunition in Adigrat. A resident said some Eritrean lorries had been destroyed, while reports indicated that Eritrean forces appeared to be moving back north after the strikes. These accounts could not independently establish the scale of the troop deployment or the damage from the attacks.¹²

Ethiopia and Eritrea trade accusations

Ethiopia described Eritrea’s reported actions as an invasion and said they amounted to aggression triggering its right to self-defence. The foreign ministry said the country was prepared to safeguard its independence, borders and vital national interests. Abraham Belay, a senior Ethiopian government official, said the Eritrean army had entered the conflict with its “full capacity and logistics” and said Eritrean soldiers had been killed and captured.¹²

Eritrea did not explicitly confirm or deny that its troops were present in Ethiopia. Its information minister said Eritrea faced “an unprovoked war of aggression” from Ethiopia and accused Ethiopian leaders of seeking regime change in Eritrea. Ethiopia has also accused Eritrea of supporting the TPLF, an allegation Eritrea has previously denied.¹²

Renewed fighting in Tigray

According to the BBC, clashes erupted two weeks earlier following months of strained relations between the Ethiopian government and the TPLF. Each side has accused the other of breaching the 2022 agreement that ended the two-year civil war. The renewed unrest followed the September formation of an alliance of armed groups that includes the TPLF, according to the reports.¹²

The TPLF launched an offensive against the Ethiopian government in September, according to the Guardian. During the previous fortnight, the TPLF and six allied armed factions have battled state forces across Tigray, Amhara and Afar. TPLF forces withdrew from Mekelle, Tigray’s main city, which subsequently came under Ethiopian army control; the Guardian reported that the Tigray Peace Force took over the city after the withdrawal.¹²

Fighting was also reported around Wukro. The BBC said national soldiers and their allied forces moved into the town following heavy-weapons fighting roughly 15km south of it. People living in and near Edaga Hamus said drones struck nearby and that they saw vehicles transporting heavy weaponry, among it anti-aircraft guns.¹

Diplomatic rupture

Ethiopia and Eritrea severed diplomatic relations amid the renewed fighting, according to the BBC. Eritrean forces had fought alongside Ethiopia’s government against the TPLF during the 2020-2022 civil war. The current allegations and counter-allegations come as civilians in Tigray, Amhara and Afar had only recently begun recovering from earlier violence, according to an Acled analyst.¹²