Ethiopia says Tigray leader admits alliance with nation’s enemies

The Ethiopian government claimed Wednesday it has proof that regional leaders in Tigray state, with which it fought a brutal war earlier this decade, are forging alliances with rival countries and armed groups. A source in the federal government shared an audio recording with AFP which it said featured a senior official from the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), Addis Alem Balem. According to an AFP translation of the recording, the official is heard telling an audience that Tigrayans are “not alone” against the federal government.

He says they can “collaborate” with the Fano, a militant group operating in the neighbouring Amhara state, and can trade with Eritrea, a long-time rival of Ethiopia. “We will work… together against a common enemy,” Addis Alem says in the recording. The Ethiopian government source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said this was proof the TPLF was a “destabilising force that continues to prey on the people of Tigray specifically and the rest of Ethiopia in its relentless quest for hegemony”.

AFP spoke to Addis Alem, who did not deny the authenticity of the recording, but said the government’s interpretation “did not reflect my words”. “What remains clear and unchanged is our firm position: we are fully committed to peace and stability,” he said. The TPLF ran the whole of Ethiopia for almost three decades until it was sidelined when the current prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, came to power in 2018.

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Abiy’s government then fought a civil war against the TPLF from 2020 to 2022 that claimed more than 600,000 lives according to African Union estimates. With little progress on resolving their political disputes, tensions have again been rising in recent months at a time when the federal government also faces multiple armed insurgencies and threats from neighbouring Eritrea.

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