Middle East & Africa | Playing with fire
Ethiopia and Eritrea are engaged in a dangerous game of brinkmanship
Mar 20th 2025|NairobiShare
For weeks there had been troubling signs: homes raided by unknown assailants; activists beaten in the street. Then, on March 11th, armed men appeared in Adigrat, a town in Ethiopia’s semi-autonomous Tigray region near the border with Eritrea. Their faces covered with black masks, they stormed government buildings and arrested the mayor. Elsewhere in Tigray similar scenes unfolded. By March 14th soldiers appeared to be in control of the regional capital, Mekele. Getachew Reda, Tigray’s interim president, had left on a plane for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital. Several of Mr Getachew’s allies are said to have gone into hiding.