Ethiopia's army chief accuses Eritrea of backing armed groups to weaken the country

Field Marshal Berhanu Jula, chief of general staff of the Ethiopian National Defense Force, has accused Eritrea of funding and supporting armed groups intended to weaken Ethiopia, as tensions between the neighbouring countries rise.

Jula said the army was responding to provocations from the Tigray front with “wisdom and restraint”. His comments combined a pledge of military caution with allegations that Ethiopia’s internal security challenges are being supported from outside the country.

He accused foreign powers, including Egypt and Sudan, of “pushing, supporting, and supplying” a new internal armed alliance known as Semedo. Jula described the alliance as part of a longstanding pattern of hostile alliances directed against Ethiopia.

According to Jula, Semedo could not confront the Ethiopian state without outside backing. He alleged that Eritrea serves as an intermediary between external forces and armed groups operating inside Ethiopia.

Jula also said that neither Eritrea nor the TPLF could challenge the federal government independently without support from regional and international actors. He stated that direct military invasions were no longer feasible for Ethiopia’s adversaries, suggesting that support for internal armed groups had become the alleged means of pressure.

Eritrea denied the accusations. It has expressed concern that landlocked Ethiopia may seek to invade Eritrea in pursuit of access to the Red Sea.

The exchange leaves important questions unresolved. The composition and capabilities of Semedo have not been specified, nor has the nature or extent of the alleged foreign funding and supplies. The particular provocations from the Tigray front cited by Jula have also not been detailed.

The allegations come amid wider tension between Ethiopia and Eritrea over foreign interference, armed groups and Ethiopia’s security challenges. Jula’s remarks place Eritrea at the centre of Ethiopia’s account of those pressures, while Eritrea’s denial and its concern about a possible Ethiopian military move point to sharply conflicting assessments of the threat.