Growing Disillusionment Hits Brigade Nhamedu Amid Ethiopian Ties
The Ethiopian-backed Eritrean opposition group, the Eritrean Blue Revolution Front (armed wing of the Brigade Nhamedu movement), held a conference in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.
The Ethiopia-based Brigade Nhamedu movement, represented by figures such as Dawit Teferi , claimed it is working together with the Ethiopian regime to bring regime change in Eritrea and stated during the press conference that it has 20,000 armed members.
This comes as Ethiopia is arming and hosting nearly five Eritrean opposition groups, namely Brigade Nhamedu/EBRF, the Islamic Green Movement, the Eritrean Afar separatist group RSADO, the Eritrean Afar National Congress (EANC), and the TGiE (Transitional Eritrean Government in Exile).
However, reality looks different. Many sympathizers of the Brigade Nhamedu Movement have left the organization due to its compliance with the Ethiopian regime of Abiy Ahmed, as Abiy Ahmed’s regime has declared its intention to annex Eritrea’s Assab port and has reportedly threatened to turn the Eritrean capital Asmara into Gaza.
Recently, the former Ethiopian PoW in Eritrea and general of the ENDF, General Bacha Debele Buta, threatened that in the event of a war between Ethiopia and Eritrea, Eritrea will not cease to exist. Aside from that, many Brigade Nhamedu members have been jailed in Ethiopia, including the prominent
BNH singer Kiros Asfaha.
All in all, growing disillusionment over the group’s close ties with the Ethiopian government, combined with harsh rhetoric against Eritrea and the jailing of key members, has significantly weakened support for Brigade Nhamedu among its former sympathizers.