Tigray Accuses Federal Government Of Attacks Stoking Fears Of Renewed Violence in Ethiopia

Tigray Accuses Federal Government of Attacks, Stoking Fears of Renewed Violence In Ethiopia Ethiopia / Tigray The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) accused Ethiopia’s federal government of launching drone strikes against the northern region of Tigray over the weekend, in the midst of rising tensions following renewed clashes between Tigrayan and Afar regional forces last week, Agence France-Presse reported. The TPLF said the strikes on Friday night “caused casualties among members of the Tigray forces and local residents” and accused Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed of “obstruction and military provocation.” The group called the attacks a “blatant violation” of the 2022 peace deal that ended the country’s two-year civil war between the government and the TPLF. The government in Addis Ababa has not commented on the allegations. The accusations came a day after Afar’s regional authorities claimed that Tigrayan fighters had crossed into their territory, seizing six villages and shelling civilians with mortars and heavy artillery, AFP reported separately. The Afar administration warned that it would “undertake its defensive duty to protect itself” if such incidents continued. A humanitarian source confirmed fighting had occurred but said it had ended by late Wednesday and that no casualties had yet been reported. Tigray’s interim administration rejected the Afar claims as “baseless,” and accused the region of staging “repeated attacks” in recent years and of participating in a “malicious plot to deliberately harm the Tigrayan people.” The TPLF also alleged that the federal government was “recruiting and arming bandits” in Afar as part of a campaign to destabilize Tigray. Relations between the federal government and Tigray, home to about six million people, remain fragile three years after a war that killed an estimated 600,000 people between 2020 and 2022. In May, Ethiopian election authorities banned the TPLF from political activity, and in October, the central government accused the party of forging ties with Eritrea and “actively preparing to wage war against Ethiopia.” Analysts said the flare-ups underscore the country’s unstable postwar trajectory, adding that the country has been on a “path to war” for months, with political trust eroding and regional grievances deepening. The TPLF – which dominated Ethiopian politics from 1991 to 2018 – is requesting help from the international community to prevent the country from sliding into renewed conflict.