Reignited Violence in Ethiopia Threatens to Engulf the Entire Region

Ethiopia is on the brink of another civil war.

Last week, fighting between rebels and federal forces in the northern Tigray, Amhara, and Afar states left hundreds dead. These clashes may signal the start of a potentially devastating conflict in a country still recovering from a bloody civil war that killed approximately 600,000 people between 2020 and 2022.

Fighting began as seven rebel groups from across various parts of the country announced the formation of a military coalition called the Ethiopian Peoples’ Forces Alliance for Survival. The alliance’s expressed aim is to remove the federal government headed by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali from power.

Major fighting has thus far remained confined to the northern Tigray state, where the previous civil war took place. The leading rebel group, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), made significant territorial gains across the state last week, seizing control of Alula Aba Nega International Airport in the Tigrayan capital of Mekelle, as well as airports in the nearby cities of Axum and Shire. In response, Ethiopian Airlines shut down all service to those airports, cutting off much of Tigray to commercial air transit.