Kalkidan Yibeltal
Thursday September 1, 2022
The recent fighting has been in the neighbouring regions of Afar and Amhara (file photo)
The Ethiopian government has accused Tigrayan forces of expanding the renewed fighting to different fronts, including along the country’s western borders with neighbouring Sudan.
A statement on Wednesday said new fronts had opened in the west after Tigrayan offensives in the east around the town of Kobo did not go according to plan.
There has not been a response from Tigrayan forces about these allegations.
However, a senior Tigrayan official, Getachew Reda, earlier accused Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government of wanting “to further internationalize the conflict” by sending “tens of thousands of troops” to neighbouring Eritrea.
The BBC has not independently confirmed either claim but this is a clear sign that the violence is deepening and expanding after it resurfaced last week shattering a five-month truce.
Some of the new fronts cited by the government are in the disputed region of western Tigray, controlled by regional forces from neighbouring Amhara and federal forces since the first round of fighting in late 2020.
Tigrayan forces want the return of the area to its pre-war status but Amhara forces also claim it - saying it was incorporated into Tigray when the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) was dominant in Ethiopia’s political landscape.