The Royal United Services Institute published on 19 April 2021 a commentary titled "Ethiopia: A New Proxy Battlespace?" by Ann FitzGerald, Balsallie School of International Affairs in Canada, and Hugh Segal, Queen's University at Kingston.
The account describes competing narratives on the conflict in Tigray, siding with the Ethiopian federal government, and arguing that great powers have taken sides in both the Tigray conflict and the dispute over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.
