US Contractor Admits Sharing Secrets With Ethiopia to Help Target Tigray Fighters

An Ethiopian-born American citizen has pleaded guilty to passing highly classified US intelligence to Ethiopia, including information he hoped would help identify and kill fighters during the country’s 2020 civil war.

Abraham Teklu Lemma, a former US government contractor, admitted sharing dozens of classified documents and photographs with senior Ethiopian officials over more than two years, according to the US Department of Justice.

The 54-year-old pleaded guilty to conspiring to transmit national defence information to a foreign government. Under a plea agreement, he faces up to 22 years in prison, with sentencing scheduled for 14 April 2027.

US prosecutors said Lemma worked with senior figures in Ethiopia’s political, military and intelligence establishments between 2021 and his arrest in August 2023.

He had previously worked as a contractor for the US State Department, Justice Department and National Reconnaissance Office, which operates American intelligence satellites.

Investigators said Lemma secretly removed classified material from secure government facilities. At times, he copied sensitive information into handwritten notes and carried them out of the buildings. He also used his position as an IT administrator to extract electronic intelligence files.

The information included satellite imagery and details of military activity related to the conflict in Ethiopia. Lemma allegedly shared the material with Ethiopian officials through encrypted messages.

The FBI said Ethiopian officials later used intelligence supplied by Lemma in military operations.

Prosecutors said he hoped the information would help Ethiopia’s military identify and kill paramilitary fighters.

In a message to an Ethiopian official in December 2021, Lemma wrote: “We have to finish these people once and for all, otherwise there will never be peace in Ethiopia,” according to court documents.

Later that day, he shared additional intelligence and urged the official to “Please send Dro[nes].”

US Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro said Lemma had abused his access to some of America’s most sensitive intelligence, betraying his colleagues and country and putting national security at risk.

John Eisenberg, the US assistant attorney general for national security, said Lemma had betrayed the United States to an extraordinary degree.

Lemma was arrested in Maryland in August 2023 following an investigation into his handling of classified intelligence. Prosecutors previously alleged that he removed security markings from intelligence reports and shared information with a foreign intelligence official.

The case has highlighted how sensitive American intelligence was passed to Ethiopian authorities during a devastating civil war that killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced millions.

The conflict began in November 2020, pitting Ethiopian federal forces and their allies against fighters from the northern Tigray region. It was marked by widespread allegations of atrocities, including massacres, sexual violence and attacks on civilians.

A peace agreement signed in November 2022 ended the main fighting, although tensions and insecurity have continued.