Regional authorities in Tigray have formally accused the Ethiopian federal government of embedding fighters from Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) into a military offensive along the border zone of Western Tigray, marking a potential expansion of regional conflict in the Horn of Africa.
In an official statement released on August 2, 2026 by the Government of Tigray, regional officials claimed that federal troops under Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s ruling Prosperity Party initiated a coordinated attack near the border village of Shererina.
The central and most significant assertion in the regional release alleges the direct operational involvement of foreign fighters under the command of Sudanese General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, widely known as Hemedti.
Tigrayan leadership asserted that these RSF elements, operating as expeditionary units alongside forcibly recruited local fighters, participated in repeated air and ground assaults before being repelled.
The allegation introduces an international dimension to the ongoing instability in northern Ethiopia.
The RSF has been locked in a brutal civil war against the Sudanese Armed Forces since April 2023. If confirmed, the presence of Hemedti’s fighters would indicate a deepening cross-border alignment between Addis Ababa and Sudanese paramilitary factions, raising fears that Sudan’s internal war is spilling over into Ethiopian territory.
According to the Tigrayan statement, the combined offensive suffered significant losses, leaving health facilities across Western Tigray and neighboring Gondar in the Amhara region overwhelmed with wounded combatants.
Regional leadership further claimed that federal authorities attempted to air-lift casualties to other parts of Ethiopia to conceal the scale of losses.
The claims come at a critical juncture where the 2022 Pretoria Peace Agreement between the federal government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front has faced increasing strain over unresolved political governance and border disputes.
Neither the Ethiopian National Defense Force nor representatives for the RSF have publicly responded to the specific allegations.
Originally published on UMD Media Facebook on 2026-08-02T09:00:00-06:00. Source: https://www.facebook.com/getachew.UMDMedia