Hundreds flee fighting in northern Ethiopia as fears rise of return to civil war

Hundreds of Ethiopians from the Tigray region have crossed into neighbouring Sudan following fighting between regional forces and the Ethiopian army over the weekend.

In one of the most serious confrontations since the end of the civil war in the area four years ago, intense clashes broke out on Saturday morning in Shererina, near the border with Sudan.

A member of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) said the violence, which continued into Sunday, involved heavy artillery and drones.

The two-year civil war in northern Ethiopian between the TPLF and the federal government, which led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people, ended with an African Union-brokered peace deal in 2022.

But there are fears there could be a return to full-scale conflict as the deal has not been fully implemented and the TPLF is back in control of Tigray after pushing out the interim administration that was created as part of the resolution of the conflict.

There are also concerns that the fighting could become a proxy for the Sudanese civil war, with accusations that the warring parties there are backing opposing sides in Ethiopia.

Both the TPLF and the federal authorities blamed each other for Saturday’s clashes.

The TPLF-led regional administration accused the federal government of launching an “open war” in the Shererina area. It said the offensive violated the peace agreement and was aimed at “subjugating and dividing” the people of Tigray.

The federal government and the federal army have not issued an official statement but minister Abraham Belay confirmed that clashes had occurred.

In a social media post, he accused the “TPLF clique” of starting the fighting and warned of “worse consequences” if the conflict continued.

The minister also called for dialogue, saying disputes should be resolved through peaceful negotiations rather than war.

“Today, it is better to reach out for peace before destruction,” he wrote.

The death toll from the weekend’s fighting was not clear but Sudanese medical and local sources told the AFP news agency that civilians and wounded fighters fled across the border, while witnesses reported hearing explosions, heavy gunfire, and aircraft throughout Saturday.

Shererina, a small locality in western Tigray, is strategically sensitive because western Tigray has been disputed between Tigray and Amhara, the regional state just to the south, since the civil war.

By BBC News