Overview
- Ethiopia’s foreign minister, in a 2 October letter to the UN seen by media, accused Eritrea and a hardline TPLF faction of forming an alliance called “Tsimdo” and preparing to wage war.
- Addis Ababa also alleged the pair were funding, mobilising and directing armed groups, citing claimed TPLF participation in a recent Fano militia offensive targeting Woldiya in Amhara.
- Eritrean information minister Yemane Ghebremeskel rejected the accusation as “provocative sabre-rattling” and called Ethiopia’s UN letter a “deceitful charade.”
- The TPLF, in an 8 October letter to the UN, dismissed the allegations as entirely unfounded, warned the government was building a case for another war, and called for AU and international mediation.
- Ethiopia reaffirmed a pledge to seek sea access by peaceful means and warned its military restraint is not indefinite, while independent confirmation of any Eritrea–TPLF operational alliance has not been presented.