Salaam - Reports of Tigray Fighters Crossing into Afar Raise Fears of Renewed Violence
Assalamu alaikum. There are reports that forces from neighbouring Tigray have entered Ethiopia’s Afar region, taken control of several villages and attacked civilians, which authorities say would violate the 2022 peace agreement that ended the earlier conflict in the north.
Between 2020 and 2022, Tigray was the centre of a brutal two‑year war between the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and Ethiopia’s federal army that, according to the African Union, resulted in a very large number of deaths and suffering.
Afar officials said late on Wednesday that TPLF fighters “entered Afar territory by force today,” accused them of taking six villages and using mortars against civilians, and called the actions terror. They did not give casualty figures.
The wider conflict had previously spread into neighbouring regions, including Afar, where local forces fought alongside federal troops. Afar’s statement says Tigrayan fighters attacked the Megale district in the northwest, firing heavy weapons at civilian herders.
The regional administration warned that if the incursions do not stop, it will carry out its duty to defend the region from external attack.
Officials also say these new clashes threaten to undo the Pretoria peace deal of November 2022 that was meant to end the bloodshed. While the peace held for a time, tensions between Addis Ababa and the TPLF have increased in recent months. The TPLF, which was a dominant political force for decades, was removed from the country’s official party list this year amid internal splits and rising mistrust.
Federal leaders have further accused the TPLF of rebuilding ties with neighbouring Eritrea, stoking additional concern. Eritrea and Ethiopia share a long, difficult history, including a bloody border war in the late 1990s, and relations have fluctuated since a 2018 rapprochement.
May Allah protect innocent civilians and grant peace and stability to the people affected by this terrible situation. Please keep those harmed in your duas.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news