Eritrea’s President charges U.S. of supporting Tigrayan rebels

Eritrea’s President Isaias Afwerki has accused the U.S. of supporting Tigrayan rebels during the two-year civil war in northern Ethiopia adding that Washington forced to rebels to sign November 2022 peace deal.

In an interview with local media, President Afwerki claimed that the peace deal signed between Ethiopia and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) was rushed by the US to prevent the rebels from losing in the battlefield. The central government forces and the rebels were involved in a two-year conflict. Both parties reached a deal with Trigrayan rebels on November 12.

Afwerki also admitted for the first time that hundreds of thousands of people died in the conflict, though he did not elaborate on Eritrean casualties.

Last week, he denied reports that Eritrean troops committed war crimes in neighboring Ethiopia where they had been deployed to fight alongside federal troops and pro-government militia.

Eritrea’s army supported Ethiopian forces during war against the TPLF and has been accused by the United States and rights groups of some of the conflict’s worst atrocities.