Fighting is intensifying across northern Ethiopia, almost four years after a peace deal ended a devastating two-year war in the country’s Tigray region. The conflict has also spread into the neighbouring Amhara and Afar regions. Government-aligned forces say they captured the strategic town of Alamata, Tigray, on September 28, while Tigrayan forces have pushed into Afar.
Telecommunications have been cut across much of Tigray and commercial flights have been suspended, separating families and hampering humanitarian operations. Ethiopia’s army chief has accused Eritrea, Sudan’s army and Egypt of backing the armed groups, raising fears of a wider regional war. All countries have denied the allegations, with Egypt adding that it strictly respects the sovereignty of neighbouring states.
In this visual explainer, Al Jazeera maps where the fighting is, who is involved and how Ethiopia got here. Fighting is concentrated in three regions in northern Ethiopia: Tigray, Amhara and Afar. There are several active fronts rather than a single battlefield.
In southern Tigray, government forces and their allies have taken Alamata, a strategic town about 120km (75 miles) south of the regional capital, Mekelle. The town is a supply hub for troops, fuel and food near Tigray’s border with Amhara. On September 22, between 15 and 17 drone strikes hit Alamata, including several schools and a hospital, according to the conflict monitor ACLED.
To the west, a separate front has opened near the Tekeze River in western Tigray, an area disputed between Tigray and Amhara. Fighting has also spread into northern Amhara, around Kobo and Gidan in North Wello zone and Sekota in Wag Hemra zone, which government forces retook on September 27. Further east, Tigrayan forces and the Afar armed group Ugugumo have advanced into Afar, where fighting has been reported along the Tigray-Afar border and around Erebti and Abala.
The advance matters because it could threaten the Semera-Djibouti corridor, Ethiopia’s main route for imports, including fuel. Seven Ethiopian armed and political groups announced an alliance on September 20 aimed at removing Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government and establishing an inclusive transitional government. The group is called the Ethiopian Peoples’ Forces Alliance for Survival, or the Alliance for Survival.
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