cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/52884318

Government forces’ attack raises risk of internal conflict in Ethiopia that could trigger regional war

Eritrean troops who crossed into Ethiopia’s Tigray region have come under drone attack from government forces, raising the risk that renewed internal conflict in Ethiopia could trigger an all-out regional war between the neighbouring countries.

Military vehicles carrying soldiers drove across Eritrea’s southern border into Tigray on Wednesday, reaching the town of Adigrat 25 miles (40km) south, according to civilian witnesses, a militia commander and the conflict monitoring group Acled.

Eritrean troops were then targeted by Ethiopian government drones on Wednesday evening and Thursday morning, Acled said.

Eritrea has a historical enmity with the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which launched an offensive against the Ethiopian government on 23 September, but that previous hostility has been superseded by Eritrea’s desire to head off a perceived risk of Ethiopia invading it, in order to access the Red Sea.

In the last two weeks, the TPLF and six other armed groups in Ethiopia have fought the government in Tigray and the neighbouring regions Amhara and Afar. Ethiopia’s military pushed back and an allied militia, the Tigray Peace Force, took over Tigray’s regional capital, Mekelle, on 4 October after the TPLF withdrew from the city.