Mekelle, Tigray (Wegahta) — Fighting in northern Ethiopia is spreading across regional borders, with federal and Tigrayan forces and their allies reporting territorial gains in Tigray, Afar and Amhara as a conflict that erupted last week continues to widen.
Federal forces and allied Tigray Peace Force fighters were reported to have taken Samre, a town about 70 km from Tigray’s capital Mekelle, according to several reports. The reported capture of Samre could mark one of the closest points to Mekelle reached by federal-aligned forces since fighting resumed last week, although the development could not be independently verified.
Federal-aligned forces have also reported taking Alamata, a town in southern Tigray, and Sekota, a place in neighbouring Amhara region that was allegedly under the control of Tigrayan and allied forces. Tigrayan forces and allied fighters, meanwhile, have reported gains in Afar, including the capture of Erebti, a town near the border with Tigray.
The competing battlefield claims could not all be independently verified, reflecting the increasingly difficult reporting environment in northern Ethiopia. Phone and internet services have been disrupted across much of Tigray, while access to several areas affected by fighting is restricted.
The territorial claims underline the rapidly changing nature of the conflict. Fighting has been reported across southern Tigray, Amhara and Afar, with forces on both sides attempting to consolidate positions and control strategic roads and towns.
The International Committee of the Red Cross, meanwhile, evacuated 161 people from Mekelle to Semera in the neighbouring Afar region on Monday, with the approval of the authorities involved. Those evacuated included federal police personnel, Ethiopian Airlines staff, civil aviation security personnel, African Union monitoring personnel and Ethiopian Red Cross workers.
The latest fighting follows months of growing tensions over the implementation of the November 2022 Cessation of Hostilities Agreement, which ended the two-year war between Ethiopia’s federal government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front. Disputes over the return of displaced people, the status of occupied territories and the political transition in Tigray remained unresolved, while both sides accused each other of failing to fully implement the agreement. In the months before the latest escalation, the region also saw a series of smaller clashes and reports of drone strikes, raising concerns that the fragile truce was coming under increasing strain.
The renewed fighting has now spread beyond Tigray. Tigrayan forces and allied groups have fought in Afar and Amhara, while federal forces have sought to regain territory and positions inside Tigray.
The developments have raised fears of a return to the wider conflict that devastated Tigray between 2020 and 2022. That war killed hundreds of thousands of people through fighting, hunger and the collapse of health services, according to estimates cited by international researchers and organisations.
The African Union has called for an immediate cessation of hostilities and a return to direct talks under the Pretoria framework. The bloc has warned that the renewed fighting risks reversing the gains made since the 2022 peace agreement.
For now, the reported capture of Samre places the fighting in a particularly sensitive area. The town’s proximity to Mekelle means any sustained movement of federal-aligned forces northward could increase pressure on the regional capital, although the extent of their current control and the military situation around Samre remain difficult to establish independently.