A Look at Eritrea’s Role as New Tigray War Looms in Ethiopia

Reports of troop movements and sporadic clashes in northern Ethiopia have emerged in recent months, feeding concern that a fragile calm could soon collapse. The region is still reeling from the brutal two-year civil war between the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and federal government forces — a conflict that claimed an estimated 600,000 lives before it ended with the Pretoria peace agreement in November 2022…During that war, Eritrean troops supported Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s campaign against the TPLF. But critics warned at the time that peace would remain fragile without Eritrea at the negotiating table. President Isaias Afwerki, who has ruled Eritrea for decades, was notably absent from the talks in the South African’s administrative capital, Pretoria. Now, growing fears of renewed violence point towards Eritrea’s involvement. Another destabilizing factor is the political turmoil within Tigray itself. The once-dominant TPLF has fractured after internal power struggles — a vulnerability Eritrea could potentially exploit…The Eritrean military is reportedly strengthening its positions near the Tigray border and may have advanced up to 10 kilometers into Ethiopian territory, according to The Sentry. DW