Did Eritrea “not deny” that its troops had crossed into Ethiopia?

What was claimed

On 8 October, The National reported that Eritrean troops had entered Tigray and wrote: “Eritrea did not deny its troops had crossed the border.” A The only Eritrean response it cited was a post on X by the information minister, Yemane Gebremeskel, accusing Ethiopia of building “a fallacious narrative of ‘self defence’”.

What Eritrea said

Eritrea’s response came in more than one form, and the reports differ depending on which one they used.

In a Reuters report published on 7 October, the minister “denied Eritrean forces were there, calling the witness accounts part of an Ethiopian plan to justify a war of aggression against its smaller neighbor”. The same report quotes him directly: Ethiopia “has tried to re-package this war agenda in terms of self-defense by fabricating various allegations against Eritrea.” B We have kept a screenshot of that paragraph C.

A later version of the Reuters story, based on the minister’s post on X, says that statement “did not deny that troops had crossed the border” D. The Associated Press described the same post as accusing Ethiopia of fabricating allegations, and said the minister “did not specifically address” the troop movements E.

So both things are true at once. The minister’s post on X did not deal with the crossing directly. But in remarks reported by Reuters on the same day, he denied Eritrean forces were in Adigrat and called the allegations fabricated.

What the claim leaves out

The National’s sentence is accurate about the minister’s post on X. It is not accurate as a description of Eritrea’s response as a whole. Stated without qualification, and without the denial Reuters reported, it leads a reader to conclude that Eritrea had effectively accepted that its troops crossed the border. The record does not support that conclusion.

This fact check is about how Eritrea’s response was reported. It is not a finding on whether Eritrean troops are in Tigray, which remains unconfirmed by independent sources.

Our verdict

Misleading. Eritrea’s information minister denied, in remarks reported by Reuters, that Eritrean forces were in Adigrat, and accused Ethiopia of fabricating allegations. Reporting that Eritrea “did not deny” the crossing, without that context, gives a false impression of Eritrea’s position.