Are “Eritrean soldiers” fighting for Sudan's army, as a Horn Review headline says?

What was claimed

On 6 October, Horn Review, an Addis Ababa-based research and commentary site, published an article headlined “Afwerki Calls for Non-Interference in Sudan as Eritrean Soldiers Continue Fighting for SAF” A. The SAF is the Sudanese Armed Forces, at war with the Rapid Support Forces since 2023. The article’s graphic repeats the headline in large type, with “Eritrean Soldiers Continue Fighting for SAF” in red, beside a photo of Eritrea’s president, Isaias Afwerki, shaking hands with the SAF’s leader, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.

“Continue” presents Eritrean soldiers fighting in Sudan as established and ongoing.

What the article’s evidence says

The body of the article describes something different. It says training camps in Eritrea’s Gash Barka region “have hosted fighters from eastern Sudanese communities”, and that “more than a dozen such militias trained and equipped with Eritrean assistance now fight alongside the SAF” A. Those are Sudanese fighters, not Eritrean soldiers.

The sources Horn Review links to say the same. Sudan War Monitor names the groups: the Eastern Corps of Amin Daoud’s United Popular Front for Liberation and Justice, the National Movement for Justice and Development, and others, all Sudanese, reported to have trained in Eritrea B. Martin Plaut’s report describes a Sudanese militia, the Eastern Cohort, deploying to Kassala after training reported to have taken place in Eritrea C. Neither reports Eritrean soldiers fighting in Sudan. Both date from November 2024.

The closest the sources come is Plaut’s citation of a report that Eritrea had set aside a 5,000-strong unit to support Sudan “should the situation on the ground in Sudan escalate and the RSF approach eastern regions” C. That describes a force held in reserve for a possible future, not soldiers fighting.

The only reference to Eritrean forces in the article itself is to “reports of Eritrean military units providing support”, with no report named and no description of what the support was A.

What we checked

We looked for reports from news agencies, the UN Panel of Experts on Sudan and conflict monitors of Eritrean soldiers in combat in Sudan in 2026. We found none. Eritrea’s support for the SAF, including hosting and training Sudanese armed groups, is widely reported. Eritrean soldiers fighting for the SAF is a separate claim, and the article offers nothing to support it.

Our verdict

Misleading. The headline and graphic tell readers that Eritrean soldiers are fighting for Sudan’s army. The article’s own evidence describes Sudanese militias trained with Eritrean help, and an Eritrean unit reported to be on standby in 2024. Turning Eritrean-trained Sudanese fighters into “Eritrean soldiers” gives readers a false picture of Eritrea as a combatant in Sudan’s war, a claim the article does not support. If evidence emerges, we will review this fact check.