Fears are mounting in Ethiopia over reports that forces in the northern Tigray region are preparing an offensive against the federal government in the coming days.
A two-year war between Tigray and Addis Ababa killed more than 600,000 people before a peace deal was agreed in 2022.
But the truce has increasingly come under strain and direct clashes broke out again late last year.
In an editorial for Al Jazeera, Ethiopia’s intelligence chief and African affairs minister said the Tigray People’s Liberation Front was preparing to trigger a new conflict with the help of neighboring Eritrea. The hardline party has been banned from political activity but it remains all-powerful in Tigray and has its own army.
The piece called on “everyone with any leverage or influence over the TPLF and its patrons in Asmara” to exert maximum pressure on them to avoid a relapse into conflict.”
