The Tigray’s People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), a political party and major regional force in Ethiopia, over the weekend accused the federal government of launching coordinated military offensives including drone strikes, targeting its Shererina military camp near Sudan border.
It said the offensives were largely unprovoked.
The fighting follows months of deteriorating relations between Addis Ababa and TPLF, the party that ruled Ethiopia for nearly three decades before Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed came to power in 2018.
“The federal government launched an attack this morning against Tigrayan forces in Shererina,” close to the border with Sudan, senior TPLF official Amanuel Assefa said over the weekend.
For several months, federal and Tigrayan forces have been mobilised along the border of the northern Tigray region, while both sides have been accusing each other of seeking to trigger a new conflict.
In an official statement, the TPLF called on local residents, the diaspora, and religious institutions to mobilise and “prepare to make history.”
In recent months, the TPLF has reportedly intensified preparations in Tigray by carrying out forced military recruitment. Reports indicate that the group has been expanding its forces, while many young people are said to have been leaving the region in large numbers to avoid being forcibly recruited.
Over the past few weeks, the U.S. ambassador to Ethiopia and the African Union’s High Representative for the Horn of Africa, Olusegun Obasanjo, have traveled to the Tigray region in an effort to mediate a peaceful resolution to the ongoing conflict.
However, despite these diplomatic engagements, the initiatives appear to have made limited progress, with no clear breakthrough achieved thus far.
Abraham Belay, a senior official at the federal government strongly denied federal responsibility, accusing the TPLF leadership of launching fresh military provocations to prolong its political power.
Belay warned that TPLF is using youth and teenagers as human shields in an aimless conflict and urged local youth to reject being used as instruments of destruction.
He emphasised that genuine Tigrayan grievances cannot be solved through war, calling instead for immediate dialogue, peaceful engagement, and a return to diplomatic commitments before further irreversible damage occurs.
MG/as/APA