Eritrean leader accuses US of supporting rebels in Tigray conflict

Eritrea's President Isaias Afwerki has accused the US of supporting Tigrayan rebels during the recently concluded civil war in northern Ethiopia. President Afwerki was speaking during a Sunday interview with local media where he claimed that the peace deal signed between Ethiopia and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) was rushed by the US to prevent the rebels from losing in the battlefield.

In the interview, he also admitted for the first time that hundreds of thousands of people died in the conflict, though he did not elaborate on Eritrean casualties.

Last week, the reclusive leader denied reports that Eritrean troops committed war crimes in neighbouring Ethiopia where they had been deployed to fight alongside federal troops and pro government militia.

Eritrea’s army supported Ethiopian forces during war against the TPLF and has been accused by the United States and rights groups of some of the conflict’s worst atrocities.