Ethiopian troops reported pulling back from Eritrean border towns; Russia offers to mediate as Tigray rebels warn Ethiopian Airlines

Ethiopian federal forces have withdrawn south from several areas near the border with Eritrea, including Zalambessa and Rama, according to the conflict monitor ACLED and pro-Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) sources, the US-based Critical Threats Project (CTP) said in its 20 October review. CTP said there had been no reported fighting in those towns and that it was unclear whether Tigrayan forces had re-entered them.

Ethiopian outlet Wazema Radio reported on 16 October that Eritrean troops were digging trenches in the border area alongside the Tigray Defense Forces (TDF), the TPLF’s armed wing, CTP said. In central Tigray, CTP reported fighting between federal forces and the TDF around Zana, Semema and Hagare Selam, with federal drone strikes, between 17 and 20 October. These battlefield accounts come largely from the two sides and their supporters and cannot be independently confirmed.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Alimov told the newspaper Izvestia that tensions between Ethiopia and Eritrea were a “concern” and that Russia was willing to mediate on the sidelines of the Russia-Africa summit in Moscow on 28 and 29 October, CTP reported. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on 17 October that he was “worried” troop build-ups could cause a broader conflict, and US Ambassador Ervin Massinga told The Reporter that “conflict should never be the first option”.

TPLF leader Debretsion Gebremichael accused the federal government of using Ethiopian Airlines to carry soldiers and supplies to Mekele and said the airline “would bear responsibility for any attack it might face”. Getachew Reda, an adviser to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, called the remarks a threat of terrorist attacks.

Background: Ethiopia’s federal government and the TPLF fought a war in Tigray from 2020 to 2022 that ended with the Pretoria agreement. Fighting between federal and Tigrayan forces has since resumed, and the federal army launched a counteroffensive in late September, according to CTP. Ethiopia and Eritrea fought a border war from 1998 to 2000. For Rubio’s earlier warning, see our report.