War has broken out again in northern Ethiopia

After months of sporadic attacks and skirmishes at increasingly shorter intervals, the situation in northern Ethiopia has now become so serious that all parties involved agree on one thing: War has broken out again, four years after the previous conflict ended in Tigray.

- We are in a state of full-scale war now, says Amanuel Assefa, vice president of the rebel group TPLF, according to AFP.

TPLF is a political and military movement based in the northern Tigray province of Ethiopia. For many years, the TPLF dominated the entire country's politics, but they retreated and consolidated their power to the home province when Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed entered the political arena and began to reform politics in Addis Ababa.

Disagreements about how Ethiopia should be governed escalated to war in the fall of 2020 and only two years later could the parties agree on a temporary agreement that was signed in Pretoria in South Africa. Hundreds of thousands of civilians are believed to have died as a result of the fighting in this war, which now appears to be back.

On Wednesday, the TPLF took control of the airport in the provincial capital Mekelle and all flights from the capital Addis Ababa were canceled, while the federal army launched a counter-offensive. Even the smaller airports in Axum and Shire are said to have been taken over by the rebels. According to the TPLF, their opponents used infantry as well as drones and mechanized units during the fighting.

In Tigray, 750,000 people are already displaced since the last war, and further refugee flows are expected if the fighting continues at the same intensity. Now the concern among the aid organizations is growing.

"The Secretary-General calls on all parties to exercise maximum restraint and immediately work towards a de-escalation, protect civilians and guarantee safe and unhindered access for humanitarian partners to reach those in need," UN chief Antonio Guterres' spokesperson said in a statement.

Peace laureate Abiy Ahmed, who has been Prime Minister of Ethiopia since 2018, was supported during the last war by Eritrean government troops that attacked Tigray from the north, as well as by paramilitary groups in the neighboring province of Amhara that pressured the TPLF from the west. Both of these allies have now switched sides and turned against Abiy.

This week's escalation in Tigray follows last weekend's announcement that seven rebel groups in different parts of Ethiopia have now formed a coalition with the goal of overthrowing Abiy's government. It was a similar coalition that brought down the dreaded Derg junta 35 years ago.

Billene Seyoum, who is a spokesperson for Abiy, says according to Reuters that the alliance was no secret and accuses Eritrea of ​​backing the rebels financially.

The question is whether the rebels also receive military support from Eritrea. During the last war, DN was able to witness on the spot how thousands of Eritrean soldiers participated in the battles in Tigray where they were accused of extensive abuses against the civilian population.

There have been rumors recently that Eritrean forces have already been seen in Tigray, but this has not been confirmed. Eritrea was the other party to the agreement with Ethiopia that led to Abiy being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019. But the relationship between the two countries has now reached its lowest level since the devastating 1998-2000 war.