Ethiopian forces fought overnight to repel an attack by Tigray rebels in the Afar region, a humanitarian source said Friday, as reports emerged of an internet blackout across northern Ethiopia.
Fighters from the northern Tigray region seized several local airports and launched attacks into the neighboring Afar and Amhara regions this week, declaring that they were once again in a “full-blown war” with the federal government.
The renewed fighting has raised fears of a return to the communications blackout and blockade of essential supplies imposed on Tigray during the 2020-22 civil war, which is estimated to have killed about 600,000 people.
Internet monitor NetBlocks said it had detected an “internet disruption in northern Ethiopia” that coincided with reports of a telecommunications blackout in Tigray.
Agence France-Presse (AFP) was unable to reach sources in the region by phone Friday amid the reported disruption.
A humanitarian source in Afar said there was “heavy fighting overnight” around the town of Abala, which sits in the mountains on the border with Tigray.
“The federal forces pushed the rebels from entering the town,” the source said, adding that the army used a drone.
Heavy clashes occurred in North Wollo Zone of Amhara on Thursday, including around the UNESCO World Heritage sites in Lalibela, home to Ethiopia’s famed rock-hewn churches.
Analysts say the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, or TPLF, appears to be repeating its strategy from the last war, pushing south through Amhara toward the capital, Addis Ababa, while the offensive in Afar is likely aimed at cutting off supplies from Djibouti, which handles almost all of Ethiopia’s international trade cargo, including fuel.
The TPLF has forged an alliance with six other armed groups around the country in a bid to overthrow Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government.
“The alliance is likely trying to seize settlements alongside key infrastructure routes to undermine the federal government’s ability to supply,” Edward Bach of consultancy firm Verisk Maplecroft told AFP.
The government has a significant military advantage, however, with a large arsenal of drones, an army numbering about 500,000 and the support of external actors, notably the United Arab Emirates.
The renewed fighting comes at an awkward moment for the United States, which this month lifted sanctions on Ethiopia and Eritrea related to atrocities committed during the last civil war, saying the “national emergency ... has expired.”
The U.S. Embassy sided with Ethiopia’s government this week, saying it was “disappointed to see the leadership of the TPLF ... launch a large-scale offensive.”
The conflict could also draw in neighboring Eritrea, which fears landlocked Ethiopia is planning to invade it to gain access to the Red Sea.
Back in Tigray, prices for basic goods have been spiking as residents raced to stock up on supplies.
“There is panic in the community,” Samuel Gebreslassie, 37, who works in a spice shop in the Tigray capital, Mekelle, told AFP Thursday.
“There is deep fear that banks, telecom networks, electricity and basic goods could be cut off again.”
The TPLF ruled Ethiopia from 1991 to 2018 before being sidelined with Abiy’s rise to power, eventually triggering a civil war marked by widespread war crimes and sexual violence.
The Pretoria Peace Agreement of 2022 maintained an uneasy calm until last year but was never fully implemented, with around 1 million people still displaced.
Sporadic clashes then resumed, with federal forces launching multiple drone strikes in Tigray in recent months and massing troops at the border.
Rights groups have accused the TPLF of a campaign of forced recruitment this year as it prepared for renewed conflict.
