{"id":179615,"date":"2026-10-20T09:59:14","date_gmt":"2026-10-20T13:59:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/?p=179615"},"modified":"2026-10-20T09:59:14","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T13:59:14","slug":"abiy-ahmed-warns-eritrea-of-very-very-very-severe-consequences-in-tigrigna-interview-and-tells-tigrays-armed-youth-to-lay-down-their-guns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/179615","title":{"rendered":"Abiy Ahmed Warns Eritrea of \u201cVery, Very, Very Severe Consequences\u201d in Tigrigna Interview and Tells Tigray\u2019s Armed Youth to Lay Down Their Guns"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Abiy<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, left, during his Tigrigna-language interview with the Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation, in a still from the video posted on his X account on Oct. 19, 2026. [EBC via @AbiyAhmedAli on X]<\/em><\/p>\n

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed warned Eritrea\u2019s leaders on Monday that ignoring Ethiopia\u2019s calls for peace would bring what he called \u201cvery, very, very severe consequences,\u201d in a Tigrigna-language interview with the Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation (EBC) in which he also accused the Tigray People\u2019s Liberation Front (TPLF) of breaking the 2022 Pretoria agreement and urged armed young people in Tigray to give up their weapons.<\/p>\n

The 27-minute interview was posted on Abiy Ahmed\u2019s X account<\/a> at 2:25 p.m. ET on Monday, about 20 minutes after his office<\/a> said it was about to be shown. AFP, which reported his remarks on Monday afternoon, said Abiy Ahmed had largely refused to comment on the weeks of fighting in the north of the country, and it described the speech as a warning to Eritrea against further interference.<\/p>\n

\u201cServing as a base for Ethiopia\u2019s enemies instead of being a partner in development will not bring benefits. I believe that ignoring our calls will have very, very, very severe consequences,\u201d he said, in AFP\u2019s translation.<\/p>\n

Addis Standard rendered the same warning as \u201cextremely severe\u201d consequences.<\/p>\n

Much of what he said about Eritrea compared its cities today with the years before independence in 1993. \u201cWhen Eritrea was part of Ethiopia, its cities were vibrant and beautiful. Today, Eritrean cities seem like ghost towns,\u201d he said, according to AFP. \u201cGood neighbourly relations and partnership are the only way forward.\u201d BBC Tigrinya, which published a long account of the interview on Tuesday, reported that he said Eritrea had about 300 factories when it was part of Ethiopia, that its largest city is now smaller than Arba Minch or Jijiga, and that \u201c\u1263\u133d\u12d5 \u12b5\u121d\u122b \u12d1\u1293 \u12b0\u12ed\u1293 \u1270\u122a\u134b \u12a5\u12eb\u1364 \u12d3\u1230\u1265 \u12f5\u121b \u1263\u12f2\u121b \u12a3\u120b\u201d (\u201cMassawa has been left a heap of ruins, and Assab is a wasteland,\u201d in Zegabi\u2019s translation). BBC Tigrinya added that President Isaias Afwerki had himself acknowledged the decline of the two ports in an earlier interview with Eri-TV, saying Massawa was once called the pearl of the Red Sea and that \u201c\u120e\u121a \u1263\u133d\u12d5 \u12e8\u120b\u1295\u1362 \u12d3\u1230\u1265 \u12a5\u12cd\u1295 \u12e8\u120b\u1295\u201d (\u201ctoday there is no Massawa. There is no Assab either,\u201d in Zegabi\u2019s translation).<\/p>\n

Abiy Ahmed accused the People\u2019s Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ), Eritrea\u2019s ruling party, of siding with forces hostile to Ethiopia and working against its interests, BBC Tigrinya reported. In a summary of the interview posted in Amharic, Sputnik Ethiopia quoted him as saying that those who tell Eritrea \u201c\u12a0\u12ed\u12de\u1205\u201d (\u201ctake heart\u201d) cannot solve its problems \u201c\u1325\u12ed\u1275 \u12a8\u121b\u1240\u1260\u120d \u12a0\u120d\u1348\u12cd\u201d (\u201cbeyond handing over bullets,\u201d in Zegabi\u2019s translation).<\/p>\n

Eritrea has repeatedly denied working with or supporting the TPLF and other armed groups in Ethiopia, BBC Tigrinya noted, and Eritrean Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel told BBC Tigrinya in recent weeks that Ethiopia\u2019s ruling Prosperity Party was trying to divert attention from its own internal conflicts. Neither Yemane nor Eritrea\u2019s Ministry of Information had responded to the interview on X by 9:45 a.m. ET on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

On the TPLF, Abiy Ahmed drew a line between the party and the people of Tigray. \u201cThe TPLF did not exist 50 years ago, and now its existence is coming to an end,\u201d he said, according to AFP. BBC Tigrinya reported that he invoked Emperor Yohannes IV, saying \u201c\u1203\u1338\u12ed \u12ee\u1203\u1295\u1235 \u12ab\u1265 \u1275\u130d\u122b\u12ed \u12c8\u133a\u12a6\u121d \u1295\u1203\u1308\u122d \u1218\u122a\u1216\u121d \u12a5\u12ee\u121d\u1361 \u1205\u12c8\u1213\u1275 \u130d\u1295 \u12ed\u1255\u1205\u121d \u12a3\u120e\u201d (\u201cEmperor Yohannes came out of Tigray and led the country, but the TPLF is fading,\u201d in Zegabi\u2019s translation), and that he said not even one kilometer of what is called \u201ccorridor development\u201d had been built in Tigray while TPLF leaders concentrated on buying weapons, drones among them.<\/p>\n

He said the federal government had kept its obligations under the Pretoria agreement while the TPLF failed to carry out its main provisions, kept up military preparations instead of disarming and did not properly support the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) process, according to BBC Tigrinya. He appealed to young people under arms in Tigray to return to school, farming and work. The Ethiopian Embassy in London, in an English summary<\/a> posted on X, rendered one of his lines to the young fighters as \u201cWhy should you die so that they can live comfortably?\u201d Abay Times<\/a> reported that he also urged the TPLF\u2019s military and political leaders to surrender peacefully. \u201cWe will carry out development across all parts of Tigray. Until a regular administration is established through elections, our people should preserve their unity and institutions,\u201d he said, according to AFP.<\/p>\n

The TPLF and other Tigray officials have long argued that central parts of the Pretoria deal were never carried out, among them the safe return of displaced people, the withdrawal of non-federal forces from contested areas and guarantees for Tigray\u2019s territorial integrity, BBC Tigrinya noted. It also pointed out that Abiy Ahmed\u2019s government has itself been accused of widespread human rights violations against civilians during the last Tigray war. Zegabi found no response to the interview on the X accounts of the TPLF or Tigrai TV by Tuesday morning.<\/p>\n

The interview came three days after the authorities in Addis Ababa set up a six-month caretaker administration for Tigray<\/a> on Oct. 16. AFP said the TPLF fighters had been forced to retreat and lost control of the region, and that Eritrea, which it said had backed them, had deployed thousands of troops on Ethiopian territory before they too were forced back by drone strikes. Addis Ababa accuses Asmara of supporting Tigrayan forces and violating Ethiopian territory, and Eritrea has denied the accusations, DW reported on Monday. Abiy Ahmed was in Eldoret, Kenya, on Tuesday as the guest of honor at Kenya\u2019s Mashujaa Day celebrations, his office said<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On X, the interview drew quick responses in Tigrigna, Arabic and English, most of them about what he said on Eritrea. Khalid A. (@AligidirEritrea<\/a>), whose bio says he follows Horn of Africa political and economic news, disputed the factory figure, writing that while Eritrea \u201cdid have around 300 firms by the end of WWII and the defeat of Italian colonial rule, that industrial base was systematically dismantled and erased decades before 1991.\u201d An account posting as Eri-Camel Marches (@benyrob12<\/a>) recalled that on his first visit to Asmara in 2018, Abiy Ahmed had praised the city with the phrase \u201cAsmara Tsa\u2019ada,\u201d which the account translated as \u201cbeautiful Asmara.\u201d In Tigrigna, Tekle (@Freedom71851<\/a>), whose bio says he posts news from an Eritrea First perspective, wrote that Shaebia, the popular name for Eritrea\u2019s ruling front, \u201c\u1235\u1245 \u12a2\u120b \u12d8\u120b\u201d (\u201chas gone quiet\u201d), and an account posting as Hulum (@SeedHulum2<\/a>) wrote that Massawa once \u201c\u1209\u120d \u1263\u1215\u122a \u1275\u1218\u1230\u120d\u201d (\u201clooked like a pearl of the sea\u201d) and that \u201c\u1265\u1230\u1295\u12ad\u12b9\u1218 \u1203\u1308\u122d \u12d3\u1295\u12eb\u201d (\u201cbecause of you, the country is ruined\u201d), adding the hashtag RegimeChangeInEritrea. Musa Sheko (@MusaSheiko<\/a>), whose bio describes him as a Horn of Africa analyst and senior researcher, wrote in Arabic that the sharpness of the warnings showed Addis Ababa did not regard the threats coming from Asmara as \u201c\u0635\u0641\u062d\u0629 \u0637\u064f\u0648\u064a\u062a\u201d (\u201ca page that has been turned\u201d). Hassan Al-Naser (@hassanalnaser95<\/a>) noted in Arabic that Abiy Ahmed gave the interview \u201c\u0645\u0639 \u0644\u0648\u062d\u0629 \u0628\u0633\u0641\u064a\u0646\u0629 \u0634\u0631\u0627\u0639\u064a\u0629 \u0648 \u0645\u0634\u0647\u062f \u0634\u0631\u0648\u0642\u201d (\u201cwith a painting of a sailboat and a sunrise\u201d) behind him, and wrote that \u201c\u062a\u0628\u0642\u062a \u0644\u0647\u0630\u0647 \u0627\u0644\u0645\u0648\u0627\u062c\u0647\u0629 \u0627\u0644\u0642\u0644\u064a\u0644\u201d (\u201clittle time is left before this confrontation\u201d). Translations from Tigrigna and Arabic are Zegabi\u2019s. Zegabi has not verified the claims made in these posts.<\/p>\n

Sources<\/strong><\/p>\n