Ethiopia: U.S. Sanctioned Military Leader Visits Ethiopian Intelligence, Security Facilities to ‘Consolidate Military Ties’

Addis Ababa — A delegation of Eritrean army generals and senior officials, led by General Abraha Kassa, head of the Eritrean National Security Agency, paid an unprecedented official visit to Ethiopia on Monday, state media reported. The group toured Ethiopia’s Information Network Security Agency (INSA), the Artificial Intelligence Institute, the Federal Police headquarters, and other development projects, including the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), according to Eritrea’s Information Minister Yemane G/Meskel. Yemane tweeted that the “central purpose of the current visit is to further consolidate the close ties of military cooperation that exist between the two countries,” adding that the trip was made at the invitation of the Ethiopian Defense Forces.

General Abraha Kassa and two other individuals have been designated by the United States as “responsible for or complicit in, or who have directly or indirectly engaged or attempted to engage in, any activity contributing to the crisis in northern Ethiopia.” The U.S. imposed sanctions on Kassa in September 2021. In response, the Ethiopian government denounced the sanctions and urged the United States to revoke its decision.

Eritrean forces fought alongside the Ethiopian federal army and allied militias during the two‑year war in the Tigray, Amhara and Afar regions, and have been accused of committing atrocities against civilians since the conflict began in November 2020. Weeks before the Pretoria cessation‑of‑hostilities agreement between the Ethiopian government and the TPLF, Amnesty International reported that Eritrean troops extrajudicially killed at least 40 people in Sheraro town, Northwestern Zone of Tigray, between 6 and 12 September 2022. In February 2023, Addis Standard reported that families of ten youths abducted by Eritrean troops from Gure Endagabir, near Axum, on 18 January 2023 were still in deep distress over their whereabouts. On 20 March 2023, the United States determined that members of the Eritrean forces, along with Ethiopian National Defense Forces and Amhara forces, had committed “crimes against humanity” in Tigray, while all sides had committed “war crimes” during Ethiopia’s two‑year war.