Africa·Ethiopia
Ethiopia gets 12 Russian Su-35 fighter jets as fighting with Tigray’s TPLF intensifies
ADDIS ABABA —
Depth
Dig five layers into this story — from what happened to the full picture.
L1What happened
Abiy said the deal was agreed years ago and the jets arrived ahead of schedule, making Ethiopia the first sub-Saharan country with this kind of "advanced combat technology." "If we fail to build this capability, surviving as a country in our region will become difficult."
L2Who’s affected
Civilians in Tigray and northern Ethiopia, and Eritrea, which Ethiopia accuses of backing the TPLF (Eritrea denies it).
L3Why it’s quiet
Analysis · OVERLOOKED Coverage of the Russia-Africa summit and Ethiopia's renewed war has been thin outside regional outlets.
L4Deeper impact
Analyst Qalaab Segatu told BBC Amharic the purchase signals Ethiopia "was preparing for possible wars with other countries, not just internal conflicts," and the systems could protect cities and the Renaissance Dam. Abiy also stressed drones; Ethiopia has used Turkish and Chinese drones.
L5Full context
Russia and Ethiopia signed a 2021 military training and technology deal. The government and TPLF blame each other for breaking the 2022 deal that ended the civil war. Abiy calls Ethiopia's lack of sea access "existential," which Eritrea sees as a sovereignty threat; Eritrea won independence in 1993. Related live slugs: ethiopia-drone-strikes-amhara-tigray-civilians, ethiopia-abiy-ministers-military-training-hurso.
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Original reporting
This is an OVERLOOKED summary of the reporting above. Facts and figures come from the linked sources. Everything here is a fact unless it is labelled otherwise. Support this work.
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