Tigray Leaders Say New War With Ethiopian Government Has Begun as Fighting Erupts
The Tigray National Regional Government, said its forces had been instructed to respond to what it described as an attack by the federal government.
Families at Qoloji IDP camp, the largest camp in Ethiopia housing over 100,000 displaced individuals, visited by Anadolu on July 10, 2023. The internally displaced persons' (IDPs) camp was congested, with makeshift shelters housing displaced families having no proper sanitation facilities and limited access to clean water. The recent halt in food aid by the World Food Programme (WFP) has further exacerbated their already desperate situation. Photo by Anadolu Images.
T
igrayan leaders said Wednesday that a new war with Ethiopia’s federal government had begun after fighting erupted in the northern Tigray region and neighboring Afar and Amhara, threatening to unravel a four-year-old peace agreement that ended one of the country’s deadliest conflicts.
The renewed fighting comes nearly four years after the end of Ethiopia’s 2020-2022 civil war between the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and federal forces. The conflict resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths and a major humanitarian crisis before the two sides signed the Pretoria Agreement in November 2022.
The latest escalation follows months of deteriorating relations between the TPLF and Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government. Tensions intensified further on Sunday when the TPLF announced that it had formed an alliance with six other armed groups from across Ethiopia with the stated goal of overthrowing Abiy’s government.
The Tigray National Regional Government, which is led by the TPLF, said its forces had been instructed to respond to what it described as an attack by the federal government.
“Following the intensification of the invasion conducted through various methods by Abiy Ahmed’s autocratic and genocidal Prosperity regime against the people of Tigray,” the regional administration said in a statement, adding that Tigrayan forces had entered what it called a defensive war.
The statement represented a significant escalation in rhetoric between the two sides and raised fears that the fragile peace established after the previous conflict could collapse.
Fighting spreads beyond Tigray
Getachew Reda, an adviser to Abiy and a former TPLF official, said on X that Tigrayan forces had seized control of federally controlled airports in Tigray and launched an “all out offensive” against government positions in neighboring Afar and Amhara.
Ethiopian Airlines suspended flights to the region as reports of fighting emerged.
Four sources familiar with the developments, including a senior Ethiopian government official, a diplomatic source, a humanitarian source and another source with links to the TPLF and an allied militia, confirmed fighting in Tigray, Afar and Amhara.
According to the sources, Tigrayan forces in Afar were fighting alongside a local armed group. In Amhara, they were fighting alongside Fano, an armed militia that has become a major opponent of the federal government.
Fano had sided with federal forces during the 2020-2022 war but later turned against Abiy’s government, launching an insurgency in 2023. The group is now part of the alliance announced by the TPLF.
The involvement of armed groups from outside Tigray could broaden the conflict and increase the pressure on the federal government. The alliance announced by the TPLF includes six other groups, although the Reuters report did not provide further details on the members or their military capabilities.
Spokespeople for Abiy, the federal government and the TPLF did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Wednesday.
The federal government has accused the TPLF of violating the Pretoria Agreement and seeking to create chaos. The latest developments therefore represent a direct challenge to the peace arrangement that brought an end to the previous war.
Eritrea role raises regional concerns
The renewed fighting has also drawn attention to Eritrea, Ethiopia’s northern neighbor and longtime rival.
Abiy’s spokesperson, Billene Seyoum, told Reuters on Monday that members of the newly announced alliance had been cooperating for some time with financial backing from Eritrea.
Eritrea has repeatedly denied accusations that it supports Ethiopian armed groups. Its information minister declined to comment on Wednesday about the latest developments.
The allegations underscore the broader regional dimension of Ethiopia’s internal conflicts. Eritrea was directly involved in the previous Tigray war, during which its forces fought alongside Ethiopian federal troops against the TPLF. The Pretoria Agreement subsequently brought the large-scale fighting to an end.
The renewed clashes could therefore have consequences beyond the immediate battlefields in northern Ethiopia if regional actors become more deeply involved.
The 2020-2022 conflict in Tigray caused widespread destruction and displacement, while hundreds of thousands of people died, according to the Reuters report. The peace agreement halted the main fighting, but political disputes and tensions between the federal government and Tigrayan authorities remained unresolved.
The emergence of a new alliance linking the TPLF with Fano and other armed groups adds another layer of uncertainty. Fighting in three regions could also complicate humanitarian operations and efforts to maintain the peace established in 2022.
For now, reports of renewed hostilities mark the most serious threat to the Pretoria peace agreement since it was signed. With the TPLF describing its military action as defensive and the federal government accusing it of violating the agreement, the competing claims highlight the depth of the political divide.
The latest clashes leave the future of Ethiopia’s fragile peace uncertain, with the possibility of a wider confrontation depending on whether the fighting spreads and whether the opposing sides can prevent the breakdown from developing into another prolonged civil war.
(Source: CNN)
