Fighting in the north of Ethiopia continued to rage over the weekend, raising fears of a return to a 2020-2022 war in which an estimated 600,000 people died.
Heavy clashes have resumed between the Tigray People’s Liberation Front and the federal government since Wednesday.
The TPLF has seized airports and launched attacks into the neighbouring Ethiopian states of Afar and Amhara, saying they were engaged in a “defensive war” against the government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.
The headquarters of Tigrai TV, seen as the key outlet for the rebel authorities in the Tigrayan capital Mekelle, was hit by a drone on Sunday.
Communications have been limited since Friday when telecoms providers reported major disruption to phone and internet services in Tigray, making reporting on the conflict difficult.
Many in Tigray fear a repeat of a blockade imposed by the federal government during the previous war when electricity, banking, and almost all aid were cut off.
A humanitarian source said the Afar town of Erebti, near the border with Tigray, fell to the rebels on Sunday after being pounded by heavy artillery.
The TPLF was now advancing towards the town of Afdeera, some 100 kilometres (60 miles) to the east.
The same source estimated that at least 150,000 people have been displaced in Afar, but said it was impossible to give precise numbers.
“With an uptake in fighting in Ethiopia, we see the risk to civilians spreading at a time when diplomatic attention and scrutiny of the situation have reduced, given the broader dynamics and catastrophes throughout the region as well”, said Laetitia Bader, deputy director of the Africa division at HRW.
“The region is already facing devastating human rights and humanitarian crises”, she added. “In neighbouring Sudan we are talking about the biggest humanitarian crisis in the world.”
Ethiopia points finger at neighbours
Meanwhile, Ethiopia’s army commander on Sunday accused Egypt, Eritrea and Sudan of backing armed groups fighting its troops in the north of the country.
Speaking on the army’s YouTube channel, army chief Field Marshal Birhanu Jula said, “We are fighting forces that are organised and allied to serve the interests of external forces.”
“Neither Shaebia (Eritrea) nor the TPLF can achieve anything alone, even if they are allied, unless they are backed, supported and supplied by Sudan, Egypt and other external powers”, he added.
Sudan’s military said in a statement late on Sunday it “categorically rejects these allegations and considers them baseless”, adding that Sudan was “committed to international law and the principles of good-neighbourly relations”.
The TPLF has joined forces with six other armed groups around the country in what it dubbed the Ethiopian Peoples’ Forces Alliance for Survival, aiming to overthrow Abiy’s government and install a transitional administration.
The alliance also includes Amhara nationalist Fano militias — who fought alongside federal forces against the TPLF during the last war — and the Oromo Liberation Army, an active insurgency in Ethiopia’s most populous region, along with four groups from three other regions, making up half of the country’s 12 regional states.
The TPLF ruled Ethiopia from 1991 to 2018 before being sidelined by the rise of Abiy, which eventually triggered the war in 2020.
The Pretoria Peace Agreement ended the war and maintained an uneasy calm until late 2025, when clashes resumed.
In the latest round of fighting launched last week, Tigray rebels so far appear to be repeating a strategy from the last war of pushing south through Amhara towards Addis Ababa.
The TPLF’s offensive in Afar aims to cut supplies from Djibouti, which provides almost all of Ethiopia’s international trade cargo, including fuel.
Abiy sees fighting as ‘manageable,’ experts say
“For now, the federal government appears to regard the renewed fighting as a manageable challenge,” East Africa Senior Analyst at ACLED Dr Jalale Getachew Birru said in an expert insight shared with Euronews.
“Its crucial trade and supply corridor through Djibouti remains open, while government forces have regained ground in and around Sekota in Wag Hamera zone and Alamata in Southern Tigray zone.”
“The TPLF’s advance in collaboration with Ugugumo into Afar could change that calculation if it threatens the Semera-Djibouti route,” Dr Jalale said.
“But disrupting the corridor would also risk antagonising Djibouti, an important regional partner that does not have a relationship with the emerging anti-government alliance,” she added.
“Control of this route could give the TPLF significant leverage over the federal government by threatening Ethiopia’s main trade corridor to the port of Djibouti.”
United Nations chief Antonio Guterres’ spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the UN was “particularly troubled by reports of the use of drones as well as incidents of harm to civilians”.
The African Union has also called for “utmost restraint and immediate cessation of all actions that could further escalate tensions,” urging the immediate resumption of talks within the Pretoria Agreement.
Meanwhile, thousands of Ethiopian Orthodox Christians gathered in Addis Ababa to celebrate Meskel, an annual festival marking the discovery of the “True Cross” on which Christians believe Jesus was crucified on Good Friday.
In his message on Saturday, Abiy called on Ethiopians to unite toward fostering “a great national strength”.
“Meskel has a family and social colour. Families come together, the neighbourhood gathers, the city and its surroundings converge on one square,” Abiy said.