Fighting Spreads From Tigray as Communications Are Disrupted

Fighting between Ethiopia’s federal military and Tigrayan forces spread into the neighboring Afar and Amhara regions this week, raising fears of renewed civil war four years after a peace agreement ended the previous conflict.

The escalation followed the formation of the Ethiopian Peoples’ Forces Alliance for Survival, which brings together the Tigray People’s Liberation Front and six other armed groups and says it aims to remove Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government. Tigrayan forces seized three airports in the region, prompting Ethiopian Airlines to suspend flights, and launched operations alongside allied groups in Afar and Amhara.

Both sides accused the other of initiating the fighting. Tigrayan officials described their campaign as a defensive response to a federal offensive and said the country was now in a “full-blown war.” Ethiopia’s army said it had repelled attacks and killed, wounded or captured more than 500 fighters. Those battlefield claims could not be independently verified.

Phone and internet services were disrupted in Tigray on Friday. The BBC reported that state-owned Ethio Telecom’s network was cut while Safaricom remained operational. Reuters sources said the TPLF had ordered restrictions, possibly to hinder government drone operations, but the group did not comment.

Residents reported panic buying, depleted shops, scarce medicines and limited cash. Fighting was also reported near Abala and Yallo in Afar and near Lalibela and Weldiya in Amhara.

The clashes are the most serious since the November 2022 Pretoria Agreement ended a two-year war that killed an estimated 600,000 people. The United Kingdom condemned the attacks, while the United States warned against travel to Tigray, Afar and Amhara.