Ethiopian president warns of 'interference' amid renewed Tigray fighting

Speaking at the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday, Ethiopia’s president blamed “external actors” for renewed fighting in the country’s northern Tigray region.

Taye Atske Selassie’s remarks appear to have been aimed at Egypt and Eritrea, who whom it has longstanding tensions.

Friction with Eritrea have been primarily over border, security, and regional issues, while tensions with Egypt have been over the management of the Nile and Ethiopia’s Grand Renaissance Dam.

Fighting in Tigray has flared up in recent days, shattering a 2022 peace pact that ended a devastating two-year war.

Rebel groups have formed an alliance for an armed struggle aimed at overthrowing Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government.

Taye told the Assembly that in spite of continued outside interference in the country’s internal affairs, Ethiopia had “exercised immense restraint”.

He said the country remained firm in the conviction of becoming one of the most prosperous and dynamic development engines in Africa.

“Our message to forces of destruction and mayhem is loud and clear. We urge them to respect the sacred right of the people of the Horn of Africa to live in peace and prosperity.”

The main combatants in the renewed fighting are Ethiopian federal troops and fighters loyal to the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), an armed political group in Tigray.

Last week, the TPLF and six other opposition groups said they had formed an alliance to overthrow Abiy's governing Prosperity Party, which was re-elected in June polls that were boycotted by major opposition groups.

The UN ​and the European Union called for restraint and a return to the African Union-brokered peace process that ended a conflict that killed hundreds of thousands of people.