Fighting spread across northern Ethiopia on Wednesday, September 23, as Tigrayan forces took control of airports in Mekelle, Axum and Shire and clashed with federal troops beyond Tigray. The African Union confirmed the airport seizures and the disruption of civilian air services. The escalation raises the risk of a return to the devastating war that ended under an African Union-brokered agreement in 2022.
The Tigray regional administration said its forces had entered a defensive war in response to federal aggression. Getachew Reda, an adviser to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, gave a conflicting account, accusing the Tigray People's Liberation Front of launching an offensive against government positions in the neighbouring Afar and Amhara regions, according to Reuters. The competing claims about who began the fighting could not be independently resolved.
The African Union said the Tigrayan takeover of the three civilian airports was inconsistent with the Pretoria peace agreement signed on November 2, 2022. Ethiopian Airlines suspended services to the affected airports, according to Reuters and Euronews. The union also reported the detention of federal personnel and fighting in southern Tigray and Afar, while Reuters reported clashes involving armed groups in Amhara.
The earlier Tigray war killed hundreds of thousands of people, according to Reuters, and left the region with deep humanitarian needs. About 750,000 Tigrayans were still displaced as of February, Reuters reported, citing the UN refugee agency. Renewed combat could worsen those conditions and unsettle a wider Horn of Africa already affected by war in Sudan and tensions between Ethiopia and Eritrea.
African Union Commission chair Mahmoud Ali Youssouf urged both sides to stop escalating and resume direct talks under the Pretoria agreement. He asked former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo, the union's representative for the Horn of Africa, to engage the parties urgently, and appealed to neighbouring states to avoid actions that could fuel the conflict. The immediate test is whether those contacts can halt the fighting and restore civilian flights.
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