Renewed fighting in northern Ethiopia has triggered accusations from army chief Field Marshal Birhanu Jula that Sudan, Egypt, and Eritrea are backing Tigray forces. Both Sudan and Egypt rejected the claims as baseless, as Tigrayan fighters advanced into neighboring Afar and Amhara regions, displacing at least 150,000 people and threatening a wider regional conflict.
The Tigray front and the alliance cannot achieve anything on their own unless they are pushed, supported and supplied by Sudan, Egypt and other forces.
Ethiopian chief of general staff Field Marshal Birhanu Jula spoke as heavy fighting resumed between the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and federal forces, pushing regional tensions to a critical point four years after a peace agreement ended a devastating civil war.
According to reporting by Allafrica, Ethiopian army chief Field Marshal Birhanu Jula accused Sudan, Egypt, and Eritrea on Sunday of supporting armed groups battling federal troops. Birhanu claimed that the opposition alliance cannot achieve its goals without foreign backing and supplies, though he presented no public evidence for the allegations.
Sudan and Egypt Reject Foreign Interference Claims
Khartoum and Cairo swiftly pushed back against the accusations. Sudanese military officials turned the tables on Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government, accusing Ethiopia of supporting the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan’s ongoing civil war and alleging that strategic and suicide drones have operated from Ethiopian territory with United Arab Emirates support. Both Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates have denied those accusations. Relations had previously worsened when Sudan accused Ethiopia and the UAE of involvement in drone attacks targeting Khartoum Airport. This diplomatic friction unfolds with separate tensions between Cairo and Addis Ababa over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, on a river shared by many states that Egyptian Water Resources Minister Hani Sewilam noted is not like laying a carpet in their homes
.
Tigrayan Forces Advance Into Afar and Amhara
The military escalation follows the TPLF, which dominated Ethiopian politics from 1991 until Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed came to power in 2018, recently joining six other armed groups in a new opposition alliance alongside Fano. Following an offensive launched on Wednesday that saw rebels seize airports in northern Ethiopia, fighting spilled beyond Tigray’s borders. A humanitarian source told reporters that the town of Erebti in Afar fell to Tigrayan forces on Sunday following heavy artillery fire, with fighters continuing an advance toward Afdeera roughly 100 kilometers farther east. The renewed hostilities have displaced at least 150,000 people in Afar and disrupted critical communications, cutting off internet access in Tigray and threatening trade routes through Djibouti that supply landlocked Ethiopia.
Renewed Violence Revives Anxieties over Previous Conflict
The renewed violence has revived deep anxieties about a return to the conflict, which killed an estimated 600,000 people according to African Union estimates and left around one million people unable to return to their homes because the 2022 Pretoria agreement was never fully implemented.
The Tigray front and the alliance cannot achieve anything on their own unless they are pushed, supported and supplied by Sudan, Egypt and other forces.
Field Marshal Birhanu Jula, Ethiopian chief of general staff
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed concern over the renewed fighting, including reports of drone use and harm to civilians, as the TPLF, which dominated Ethiopian politics from 1991 until Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed came to power in 2018
faces federal troops.