Ethiopia: Army accuses Sudan and Egypt of supporting the TPLF, UN alarmed

Field Marshal Birhanu Jula, commander of the Ethiopian army, accused Sudan and Egypt on September 27, 2026, via the armed forces' YouTube channel, of supporting and resupplying fighters from the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), as clashes have resumed in the north of the country since Wednesday, September 23, according to Al Jazeera.

Cross-accusations in the Horn

According to Al Jazeera, the officer claimed that Ethiopia was facing allied forces serving the "interests of external powers" and that these forces could not advance without being "supported and resupplied" by these two countries. Africanews reports that he also implicated Eritrea. The Sudanese army rejected these allegations as baseless and issued a counter-accusation: that support for the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitaries, including training and drones, was passing through Ethiopian territory. None of these claims have been independently verified.

Tigray, Amhara, and Afar affected

The fighting is taking place in the Tigray, Amhara, and Afar regions. Africanews reports at least 150,000 displaced people in Afar, without a consolidated figure, and internet and telephone blackouts in Tigray. At the United Nations, spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric expressed grave concern over the deteriorating security situation and said he was particularly troubled by reports of the use of drones and attacks on civilians. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk declared himself deeply alarmed. The UN cites five schools struck in Tigray on September 22, civilians killed in Kobo, Amhara, on September 24, and a drone strike on a food aid truck.

An alliance of seven armed groups

The context is heavy: an alliance of seven armed groups has been announced to overthrow the government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, and the 2020-2022 war in the north of the country is estimated to have left around 600,000 dead, according to Al Jazeera. Laetitia Bader, deputy director for the Horn of Africa at Human Rights Watch, warns of a growing risk to civilians at a time when diplomatic attention is waning.

What comes next

Secretary-General António Guterres is in talks with leaders, while the Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa, Guang Cong, has initiated discussions with national and regional stakeholders. The calls are for a ceasefire, dialogue, and secure humanitarian access. For the people of the Horn, the challenge is twofold: to refuse to let northern Ethiopia become a proxy battlefield again, and to demand that all belligerents, both Ethiopian and their neighbors, be held accountable for their actions toward civilians.