On Monday, forces loyal to the Ethiopian government announced control of the strategic town of Alamata in the Tigray region, north of the country, in a field development that may change the balance of power with renewed confrontations between the federal army and the Tigray People's Liberation Front. The military advance coincides with the expansion of fighting into the neighboring Afar and Amhara regions, amid mutual accusations of foreign interference and fears of the collapse of the peace agreement that ended a bloody civil war less than four years ago.
Alamata is in the grip of pro-government forces
The Tigray Peace Force, an armed group loyal to the Ethiopian government, said on Monday that the federal army and its allied forces were able to control the town of Alamata, located about 120 kilometers south of the regional capital, Mekele, after an attack launched by opposition forces last week.
The group posted a video clip on its Facebook page showing soldiers walking through the streets of the town and waving Ethiopian flags. Two diplomatic sources confirmed control of the town, while a third source said that pro-government forces had entered it, without it being clear whether they had fully controlled it, according to what Reuters reported.
Alamata is of strategic importance as a major center for supplying forces with food and fuel, as well as its location near the southern border of Tigray with the Amhara region. Controlling it would allow federal forces to strengthen their advance north towards Mekelle, at a time when the government seeks to contain the attack launched by the Tigray People's Liberation Front forces.
The opposition attack extends to Afar and Amhara
The Tigray People's Liberation Front forces launched a massive attack last Wednesday, during which they were able to control Mekele Airport and two other airports, before advancing towards the neighboring Afar and Amhara regions, declaring that their operations came within the framework of what they described as a "defensive war" against the federal government headed by Abiy Ahmed.
A source reported that the “Front Front” fighters took control of the town of Erebti in the Afar region, near the Tigray border, on Sunday, and that they were advancing towards the town of Afdera, located about 100 kilometers to the east. The source estimated the number of displaced people in Afar at about 150,000 people, noting the difficulty of determining an accurate toll in light of the continuing battles.
The Afar Front is of vital importance to Ethiopia, as the military advance there aims, according to field estimates, to threaten the supply lines coming from Djibouti, through which the majority of Ethiopian imports pass, including fuel and basic goods.
Seven groups opposed to the federal government, including the Tigray People's Liberation Front, the Fano militia in Amhara, and the Oromo Liberation Army, announced the formation of a new alliance aimed at overthrowing Abiy Ahmed's government. The coalition vowed to launch “large-scale counterattacks” in response to the military operations of the federal forces.
The Front had announced the formation of the coalition three days before the start of its latest attack, in a move that reflects the expanding scope of coordination between armed groups opposing the government in different regions of the country.
Targeting public television
In parallel with the military developments, the Tigray Television building, the main media platform for the regional authorities, was hit by a drone on Sunday morning in the capital, Mekele, causing damage to its facade and leading to the suspension of the live broadcast of the channel, which employs more than 400 journalists, according to what reporters at the station reported, Agence France-Presse.
One of the reporters said that the workers heard a strong explosion resulting from a drone strike in another location, so they left the building, before the television was bombed after they left. There was no official comment specifying who was responsible for the attack.
The targeting of the station comes after the Ethiopian federal authorities announced, last Monday, the suspension of the work of “Tigray TV” and preventing the media from transmitting its news, at a time when confrontations between the two sides are escalating.
Since Friday, areas in northern Ethiopia have also witnessed an outage in telephone and Internet services, making it difficult to obtain independent information regarding field developments and the extent of losses. NetBlox, an organization concerned with monitoring internet outages, indicated that there had been widespread disruption in network connectivity in the north of the country, coinciding with reports of communications outages in Tigray.
This raised residents' fears of a repeat of the previous war conditions, when the federal government imposed a siege on the region, electricity and banking services were cut off, and the ability of humanitarian aid to reach the population declined.
Mutual accusations of foreign interference
As the confrontations expanded, accusations escalated regarding the role of neighboring countries in supporting the parties to the conflict. The Ethiopian army commander, Field Marshal Berhanu Jula, accused Eritrea, Sudan and Egypt of providing military and logistical support to the opposition forces, saying that his country faces groups “organized and allied to serve the interests of external powers.”
In statements broadcast by army media, Jula said that Eritrea, which he described by its local name, “Shabia,” and the “Tigray People’s Liberation Front” cannot achieve their goals alone, even in the event of an alliance, without support and supplies from other external forces.
The Sudanese army rejected the Ethiopian accusations, describing them as “unfounded,” stressing in a statement that the Sudanese armed forces are committed to international law and the principles of good neighborliness, while Eritrea denied in previous statements supporting the Ethiopian opposition forces.
These accusations come in light of escalating tension between Addis Ababa and Khartoum, as the Sudanese authorities accuse Ethiopia of helping the “Rapid Support Forces” that have been waging a war against the Sudanese army since April 2023, and of allowing drone attacks to be carried out from its territory, but Ethiopia denies these accusations.
Last May, Ethiopia accused the Sudanese army of supporting fighters linked to the Tigray People's Liberation Front, which was denied by Khartoum, in an indication of the widening circle of security disputes between the two countries.
The “Pretoria Agreement” faces a new test
The renewed fighting threatens the peace agreement that was signed in Pretoria, South Africa, in November 2022, and ended a civil war that lasted from 2020 to 2022 between the federal government and the “Tigray People’s Liberation Front.” The war, according to African Union estimates, resulted in the deaths of at least 600,000 people, in addition to the displacement of large numbers of people and the widespread destruction of infrastructure.
The roots of the conflict go back to the collapse of relations between the Tigray People's Liberation Front and Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who took power in 2018, ending decades of the Front's dominance of the Ethiopian political scene, after it had assumed power in 1991.
Although the Pretoria Agreement stopped large-scale military operations and established a cautious calm, over the past months, the two sides have exchanged accusations of violating it. The clashes renewed in late 2025, with federal forces carrying out drone strikes on the Tigray region and mobilizing their forces on the region's borders, while human rights organizations accused the Front of carrying out forced recruitment campaigns during the current year in preparation for the resumption of fighting.
Recent developments indicate that the political and military disputes that have not been resolved under the peace agreement still constitute a source of threat to stability in Ethiopia, especially with the expansion of armed alliances opposing the government and increasing accusations of foreign interference.
Fears of expanding conflict in the Horn of Africa
The renewal of the war raises fears that the confrontations will spread to a broader regional scope, in a region already suffering from the repercussions of the ongoing war in Sudan, tensions related to the Red Sea, and conflicts in the Middle East.
The relationship between Ethiopia and Eritrea gains special importance in this context, in light of the tensions associated with Ethiopia’s efforts to obtain direct access to the Red Sea, which raises Eritrean fears of the repercussions of any forceful Ethiopian move to achieve this goal.
Despite the military superiority enjoyed by the federal forces, and the external support the Ethiopian government receives, the expansion of the confrontations and the multiplicity of armed groups involved in them may complicate efforts to contain the conflict, and increase humanitarian and security pressures on the areas adjacent to the Tigray region.
In light of the continued communication interruption and conflicting information regarding control over some areas, developments on the ground remain likely to change further, while the peace agreement faces a new test that may have repercussions beyond the borders of Ethiopia to the entire Horn of Africa region.
The President of Burkina Faso, Captain Ibrahim Traoré, announced that his country is preparing to adopt a “new constitution” aimed at “reorganizing” the entire political system, and called for a break with the political system based on competition between the majority and the opposition.
Traoré said, in an interview with journalists on Sunday, published by the official Burkinabe media agency: “There will definitely be a new constitution. “We will completely reorganize.” The excerpts published by the agency did not mention a date for this, while local newspapers confirmed that he did not specify a timetable.
Attacking democracy
Traoré criticized what he described as the logic of “political entrepreneurs,” that is, those who prefer rhetoric and confrontation over work and construction. He said: “This spirit must be killed so that people understand that they must work before they eat,” accusing some political actors of “lying” and “deceiving” the population.
Traoré attacked the system of permanent competition between the majority and the opposition, believing that it causes some countries to waste years in partisan conflicts at the expense of infrastructure and development projects. “This is nonsense,” he said. You are making the population suffer. "You are not moving forward."
Traoré called for continuity in the work of the state that goes beyond the change of leaders. Because “the people are continuity,” citing Russia and China as countries that have a long-term vision for the state. He believed that African countries should establish systems that guarantee the continuity of their public policies instead of multiplying confrontations between the government and the opposition.
These statements come as a form of criticism of the democratic system, coinciding with the fourth anniversary of Traoré’s arrival to power, when he overthrew Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Damiba in a coup that took place on September 30, 2022.
The government newspaper Sidawaya quoted him as saying that the country was “in revolution” and that it would build its own political system, and that “things are going better after four years.” This step completes a process that has reshaped the institutional landscape since the coup, as the activity of political parties was suspended after the military junta seized power, and then the transitional phase charter was amended in May 2024, allowing Traoré to remain for an additional five years.
On January 29, the government announced the dissolution of all parties, and the transitional parliament ratified the decision on February 9. International parties condemned the move as a violation of multilateralism. On March 27, representatives voted unanimously (70 votes) on the “Revolution Charter,” which replaced the transitional phase charter, and sets a 2029 horizon for this path, according to press reports that confirmed that the regime ruling Burkina Faso “admits that it is not democratic.”
Foreign accusations
Human rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch, accuse the authorities of restricting the media, the opposition, and critical voices, while the authorities say that these measures aim to preserve national unity and support the war on terrorism.
On the other hand, the country faces continuous attacks by groups linked to Al-Qaeda and ISIS. Last February, it was announced that more than 130 people were killed in attacks within ten days, while the army confirmed that it controls 74 percent of the country’s territory.
On the external level, Ouagadougou severed its diplomatic relations with France on June 26, accusing Paris of “non-stop activity” against its interests, and in February it signed an agreement with Moscow on the foundations of relations between the two countries. Traoré currently holds the rotating presidency of the Confederation of Sahel States, a regional alliance affiliated with Russia.
