Ethiopia’s military said it is exercising “wisdom and restraint” as renewed fighting in the Tigray region raised fears of a new civil war, threatening the 2022 Pretoria Agreement that ended the country’s 2020-2022 conflict.
A coalition of seven armed groups, including the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, launched coordinated offensives during the week of September 22-27 in Tigray, Afar and Amhara’s North Wollo zone, in towns including Sama, Soqota, Raya Alamata and Alamata. Phone and internet networks were shut down across Tigray amid the clashes.
Army Chief of Staff Field Marshal Berhanu Jula accused Eritrea of “funding and supporting armed groups to weaken Ethiopia,” while the Ethiopian army said it killed 272 Tigrayan fighters and wounded 260 more in a counter-offensive in North Wollo, a claim that could not be independently verified.
A TPLF official described the situation as being “in the situation of full-blown war now,” saying Tigrayan forces are fighting alongside local groups in Afar and Amhara, as young men reportedly flee south to Addis Ababa to avoid forced recruitment.
