Full story
Shererina clashes flare
Heavy fighting between Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) forces and forces affiliated with the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) erupted in western Tigray near the Sudanese border around the village of Shererina, with clashes reported to have begun early Saturday morning and to have involved heavy artillery, mechanized units, and drones.
“Fierce fighting reportedly erupted in western Tigray near the Sudanese border”
The TPLF’s deputy leader, Amanuel Assefa, told AFP that federal forces launched an offensive against the group’s positions using heavy artillery, while the Ethiopian government has not yet confirmed this account of events.
Amanuel said the fighting, which began around 6:00 a.m., was “still ongoing,” as the conflict unfolded amid strained relations between the two sides that have accused each other of attempting to spark a new conflict.
Al Jazeera’s Addis Ababa bureau chief Mohamed Taha Tawkel said moving the fighting to the Sudanese border effectively marks the end of the Pretoria Agreement signed in 2022, which ended the war between the Ethiopian government and the Tigray Front.
In Sudan, Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Damazin, Osama Said Ahmed, said Sudanese military sources reported shelling of areas in al-Fashqa and Burght inside Sudan, injuring several civilians, and that the Refugee Commission of the Sudanese Ministry of Interior warned of a deterioration of humanitarian conditions.
Accusations and mediation
The Ethiopian government and the TPLF traded blame for Saturday’s clashes, with the TPLF-led regional administration accusing the federal government of launching an “open war” in the Shererina area aimed at “subjugating and dividing” the people of Tigray.
In a social media post, minister Abraham Belay confirmed that clashes had occurred and warned of “worse consequences” if the conflict continued, while calling for dialogue and saying disputes should be resolved through peaceful negotiations rather than war.
Al Jazeera’s Addis Ababa bureau chief Mohamed Taha Tawkel said the Ethiopian government informed diplomatic missions that the Tigray fighters launched from within Sudanese territory, referring to refugees who fled the region to Sudan since the outbreak of the war in 2020.
The Ethiopia Observer reported that over the past few weeks, the U.S. Ambassador to Ethiopia and the African Union’s High Representative for the Horn of Africa, Olusegun Obasanjo, traveled to the Tigray region in an effort to mediate a peaceful resolution, but that the initiatives appear to have made limited progress.
Anadolu Ajansı reported that Sudan’s Interior Ministry said projectiles hit refugee camps along the Sudan-Ethiopia border during clashes, and that Sudan’s Commission for Refugees was following the developments “with deep concern.”
Refugees and regional risk
Sudanese security and medical sources told AFP that hundreds of Ethiopians from the northern Tigray region crossed into neighboring Sudan over the past two days, fleeing fighting near the border.
“Hundreds of Ethiopians from the northern Tigray region have crossed into neighboring Sudan”
A medical source at a border health center said injured people received first aid before being transferred to Al-Hashaba, 15 kilometers (nine miles) inside Sudan, a town described as home to thousands displaced by the 2020-2022 Tigray war.
Sudan’s Commission for Refugees said the border strip serves as a transit and reception area for asylum seekers arriving from Ethiopia, and warned that the continued military buildup could lead to a further influx of refugees and increase security and humanitarian risks.
The BBC said there are fears the fighting could become a proxy for the Sudanese civil war, with accusations that the warring parties there are backing opposing sides in Ethiopia, as both the TPLF and federal authorities blamed each other for Saturday’s clashes.
Ethiopia Observer added that tensions have persisted between Ethiopia and Sudan, with Addis Ababa accusing Khartoum of financing TPLF “mercenaries,” while Sudan reported drone strikes that it said originated from Ethiopian territory.
