Rubio Says “Separatists” Attacked Inside Ethiopia and Calls Drone Strikes on Its Capital Terrorist Attacks, Warns Troop Buildup on Eritrea Border Could Widen the War

Rubio Says “Separatists” Attacked Inside Ethiopia and Calls Drone Strikes on Its Capital Terrorist Attacks, Warns Troop Buildup on Eritrea Border Could Widen the War

October 18, 2026

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U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in his official State Department portrait, January 2025. [U.S. Department of State / Wikimedia Commons, public domain] [file photo]

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Saturday that the Ethiopian Government is facing “separatists” who attacked inside the country, and he described drone strikes on Addis Ababa as terrorist attacks, while warning that troops massing on both sides of the Ethiopia-Eritrea border could turn the fighting into a broader war.

Rubio was answering a reporter’s question at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Saturday night, according to the State Department transcript, before leaving on a trip to Uzbekistan and India. Asked how high the risk of war between the two neighbors was, he said: “You have these separatists that were attacking inside of Ethiopia. You had an Ethiopian response to it. You see troops surging on both sides of the border as a result of that. And anytime you see troops on both sides of the border in a place like that, you’re always worried that that can turn into a broader conflict.” He said he had spoken to Ethiopian officials personally a few days earlier and told them, “we understand the challenge you’re facing from these separatists, and obviously no one is supportive of terrorism and the terrorist attacks that came against them, drone attacks against their own capital, but we also think … it’s a time to sort of be wise and measured in how you respond to that and make sure it doesn’t turn into a broader war which could ultimately pull in other countries.” He ended his answer with, “The last thing the world needs right now is another war.”

Rubio did not name the TPLF or any other group in the exchange, and the transcript records no formal designation of any kind. BBC Amharic, BBC Afaan Oromoo and the Addis Ababa outlet Ethiopian Business View reported the remarks as a reference to the TPLF and the armed groups fighting alongside it, which have been at war with the federal government since late September. Ethiopian Business View described them as “the armed groups, which leads by Tigray People Liberation Front [sic].” Rubio’s remarks were the first public U.S. reference Zegabi has found to drone attacks on the capital. On the night of Oct. 1, residents of the Gotera and Bethel areas told BBC Amharic they heard heavy explosions after 12:20 a.m. local time, and Reuters and AFP cited diplomatic sources who said blasts were heard, but BBC Amharic said at the time that its efforts to get an explanation from government officials were unsuccessful. The same day, the authorities in Addis Ababa declared 10 Eritrean diplomats persona non grata and closed the Ethiopian embassy in Asmara, and Eritrea severed diplomatic ties in response.

The reporter also asked whether it had been a mistake to lift some “Ethiopia-related sanctions” shortly before the violence flared. Rubio said no. “These were very small sanctions, and they don’t really have anything to do with what’s happening over there,” he said. On Sept. 18, five days before the fighting began, the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control announced that the national emergency declared in 2021 under Executive Order 14046 had expired and removed the people and entities designated under it from its sanctions list, among them the Eritrean Defense Forces, Eritrea’s ruling People’s Front for Democracy and Justice, the Red Sea Trading Corporation and the Hidri Trust. Rubio said Washington has not had “the closest relationship with Eritrea, obviously, over the years,” but has been in contact with Asmara “more than usual” in recent months. “Our hope was that by lifting some of these sanctions, we can increase those links because it’s hard to serve the role of mediator and peacemaker unless you can talk to both sides,” he said, adding that “the Ethiopian side we talk to a lot more.”

The State Department’s last published readout of such a call is from Wednesday, Oct. 14, when Rubio spoke with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed about what the State Department called “heightened tensions with Eritrea.” In its readout, the department said Rubio supports de-escalation by all sides, that “the only sustainable solution” runs through dialogue as agreed in the 2018 Ethiopia-Eritrea peace framework, and that “all countries in the Horn of Africa must respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of their neighbors and avoid cross-border incursions.”

The two governments have each told the UN Security Council that the other is the aggressor. Ethiopian Foreign Minister Gedion Timothewos wrote that Eritrea had moved mechanized units 30 to 60 kilometers into Ethiopia across three zones of Tigray, and Eritrean Foreign Minister Osman Saleh wrote on Oct. 9 that Ethiopia had declared war on his country, BBC Tigrinya reported. Asmara denies that its troops entered Tigray. In a briefing for foreign diplomats in Asmara last week, Osman accused Ethiopia of waging an “unjustified invasion” and said its claims on the Red Sea amount to a declaration of war, according to BBC Tigrinya.

Russia has also offered itself as a go-between. Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Alimov told the Russian newspaper Izvestia that Moscow is ready to provide a platform where Ethiopian and Eritrean representatives can meet on the sidelines of the third Russia-Africa summit, set for Oct. 28 and 29 in Moscow, if both countries agree, Sputnik Africa and BBC Tigrinya reported. BBC Tigrinya, which quoted Alimov calling Ethiopia and Eritrea “reliable friendly countries” of Russia, said Abiy Ahmed had accepted President Vladimir Putin’s invitation to the summit and that Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki is expected to attend. Zegabi found no public response to the Russian offer from either government by Sunday morning ET.

On X, Rubio’s words were read in very different ways, and some posts went further than the transcript. Chalachew Eshetie (@CEshetie), whose bio says he is a diplomat at Ethiopia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, wrote that Rubio “accurately identified the TPLF as ‘Separatists and Terrorists’” and that “the Ethiopian Federal Government has every right to quell this terrorist entity and defend itself against any foreign aggression.” Bruk Aseged (@BrukAsegedET), whose bio says he is chairman of Gobuzz Media Holdings, wrote that “Washington’s stance firmly validates the FDRE’s security perspective.” Yohannes Woldegabriel (@JohnAbawoldu) disagreed: “Sec Rubio got it wrong: TPLF is among Ethiopia’s most centrist organizations, not separatist. He seems less concerned about conflict contained within Ethiopia, emphasizing alleged drone attacks in Addis Ababa while overlooking government attacks on civilians and aid conveys [sic].” Axum Tsion (@tsion_axum), whose bio reads “Manifesting ‘ABAY TIGRAY’,” wrote that “TPLF is NOT a separatist,” and in a later post in Tigrigna saw something else in the moment: “እዚ ዕድል ዚ፡ ንትግራይ ካብ ዕንክሊል ትወፀሉ፡ ካብ ኢትዮጵያ ትጋላገለሉ፡ ዓርሰ ውሳነኣ፡ ትስርተሉ እዩ” (“This is an opportunity for Tigray to get out of the trap, to be freed from Ethiopia and to put its self-determination into practice”). Munir Omer (@M___Falkon), whose bio lists law degrees in international law and describes him as a researcher and lecturer, wrote that the most important thing he took from the remarks was that “the MSM & Ethiopian efforts to establish a fabricated scenario of Eritrean soldiers inside Ethiopia did not work.” An Amharic-language account, @EPeace_finder, wrote, “በተለይም አዲስ አበባ ላይ ስለተፈፀመዉ የድሮን ጥቃት የሰጠው አስተያየት ብዙም አልተመቸኝም” (“I was not very comfortable with what he said, especially about the drone attack carried out on Addis Ababa”), and wondered whether a recent lull in air attacks by the alliance forces was linked to American pressure. The Arabic account @Memiltary, whose bio says it follows military and political affairs, summed up the remarks in Egyptian Arabic as “فيه قوات بتتحشد على الناحيتين من الحدود بعد هجمات «الانفصاليين» جوه إثيوبيا ودرونز على عاصمتها” (“troops are massing on both sides of the border after attacks by ‘separatists’ inside Ethiopia and drones on its capital”). Behiwot Tilahun (@BehiwotTilahun) wrote that Rubio “officially designates the TPLF and its allied coalition as ‘Separatists’,” and Daniel Daba (@dany_daba) posted an Amharic quote attributed to Rubio, followed by a thinking-face emoji, saying the Ethiopian government is responding proportionately to the separatists “ለዚህም እውቅና እንሰጣለን” (“and we recognize this”). Neither a designation nor that sentence appears in the State Department transcript. Getachew Reda (@reda_getachew), adviser to the prime minister on East African affairs, shared a video clip of the remarks without comment. Zegabi has not verified the claims made in these posts.

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