ADDIS ABABA — Ethiopian federal police say they have intercepted more than 56,000 rounds of ammunition in the Amhara region, alleging the shipment was sent from neighbouring Eritrea to arm the Fano militia, a claim Eritrea rejects.
In a statement posted late Wednesday, police said officers seized the ammunition from a lorry and detained two suspects. Investigators said a preliminary probe linked the consignment to Eritrea’s ruling party, referred to in the statement as “Shabiya,” and that it was intended to bolster Fano fighters, who have battled federal forces since 2023.
Police further alleged the cargo transited Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region with assistance from the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), the former governing coalition that fought a devastating war against Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government from 2020 to 2022 before signing the Pretoria peace agreement.
TPLF Vice President Amanuel Assefa dismissed the allegation as “unfounded,” saying federal authorities were seeking a pretext to undermine implementation of the Pretoria accord that ended the Tigray conflict.
Eritrea’s Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel said Ethiopia’s Prosperity Party was “floating false flags” to justify a war it had “been itching to unleash.”
The Amhara conflict has been Ethiopia’s most serious security challenge since the Tigray war ended, prompting a federal state of emergency in August 2023 and periodic communications restrictions. Rights bodies and the UN have reported substantial civilian casualties and humanitarian needs in the region.
The seizure comes amid a sharp deterioration in ties between the neighbours, who fought a border war from 1998 to 2000, reconciled in 2018 and later cooperated militarily against the TPLF during the Tigray war—before relations soured after Eritrea was excluded from the 2022 peace deal.
Tensions have also been inflamed by Addis Ababa’s insistence that landlocked Ethiopia has a right to reliable sea access, comments widely viewed in Eritrea—whose Red Sea coastline includes the port of Assab—as an implicit threat. Abiy has said Ethiopia seeks dialogue, not war.
In October 2025, Ethiopia’s foreign ministry warned in a letter to UN Secretary-General António Guterres that Eritrea and a hardline TPLF faction were colluding to “wage war” and funding armed groups in Amhara, including Fano. Eritrea previously described such allegations as a “sham.”
Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki has recently accused Ethiopia’s ruling party of having “declared war,” saying Eritrea does not want conflict but will defend itself if necessary.
