Ethiopia's Truce Collapses as Tigray Forces Launch Offensive
Ethiopia's 2022 ceasefire has broken down after the Tigray People's Liberation Front and six allied armed groups began a campaign aimed at removing Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. The TPLF said government forces fired on its troops, while Addis Ababa accused rebels of a full-scale attack on federal positions in Afar and Amhara and of seizing airports in Tigray. The renewed fighting threatens to reignite one of the deadliest conflicts of the century.
The TPLF, which governed Ethiopia for nearly thirty years before 2018, now leads a coalition with six other armed factions. That alliance, unveiled Sunday, includes opposition groups that skipped June's election. In that vote, Abiy's Prosperity Party took about ninety percent of lower-house seats, while no balloting occurred in Tigray.
Addis Ababa says rebels struck federal positions in Afar and Amhara and took three Tigray airports. The national defense force claims 272 opponents killed and 260 captured. Phone and internet links in the north are disrupted. The prior war killed roughly 600,000 people and pushed Tigray toward famine.
Renewed fighting could expose civilians in Tigray, Afar, and Amhara to displacement, hunger, and severed communications. A wider war may strain Ethiopia's fragile economy and public services, while drawing in neighboring actors and deepening political polarization. Families already scarred by the earlier conflict could face renewed trauma and loss, and any escalation may complicate humanitarian access and regional stability.