‘No proof of Eritrean troops fighting in Ethiopia’

United Nations, Dec 10 : UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said that there is no proof of Eritrean troops inside Ethiopia, where government forces are fighting rebels in the northernmost region of Tigray.
“We have no proof of the presence of Eritrean troops inside Ethiopia. I confronted the (Ethiopian) prime minister with that question, and he guaranteed to me that they have not entered the Tigrayan territory, that the only area where they are is the area that corresponded to the disputed territory between the two countries that in the peace agreement was decided to give back to Eritrea,” Guterres told reporters.
“So this was the testimony that was given to me by the prime minister when I confronted him exactly with that question.” There are media reports saying that Eritrean troops have crossed into Ethiopia to help Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s military campaign against the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).
Since November 4, the Ethiopian government has been undertaking military operations against the TPLF, which rules Ethiopia’s northernmost Tigray state. The federal government’s operations followed the TPLF’s attack on a command base of the Ethiopian Defense Force in Mekelle city, capital of Tigray.
The United Nations has information of sporadic fighting in different areas of Ethiopia. But it also has information that there was in the last few days a progressive increase of security and control, said Guterres. “But again, these are information that I am not in a position to fully confirm.”