The Eritrean government has criticised the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Abiy Ahmed in a series of Tweets.

The Eritrean authorities have used TesfaNews for this purpose - one of the media outlets the government controls. The Tweets are reproduced below.

"Since the Tweets are not officially from the government, they are deniable, but no-one who knows Eritrea, and the vice-like grip the regime maintains over its media, will fail to see through this.

Tigray separatist rebels leader (TPLF) vows to maintain and even strengthen its armed forces and will never negotiate about "disarmament" under any circumstances with the central gov't. Hoping to attain "peace" in Northern Ethiopia through "negotiation", without first achieving military superiority over the Tigray rebelious groups (i.e weakening them militarily) will be PM Abiy's next biggest mistake.

"Disarmament and/or Demilitarizing TPLF/TDF are non-negotiable in our current or future talks with the  Ethiopian Federal gov't as our military strength is our only security." - TPLF Chairman, Debretsion. (Source: Tigray TV)

PM Abiy's gov't will soon transfer the 12 billion birr annual Tigray budget to TPLF and there is no guarantee that the rebel group will not misuse a chunk of the money to arm itself further."

These remarks are the strongest criticism yet of PM Abiy and an indication of the split that appears to be widening between Asmara and Addis.

The TesfaNews Tweets were followed by a quote Tigray's Debretsion saying that Tigray had a direct contact with the US State Department and this comment: "(FYI) Unconfirmed reports indicates that the town of Kobo today witnessed mobilization of thousands of Western Amhara Fano fighters to fend off the encroachment of their territories by the criminal TPLF separatist group."