Ethiopia’s army chief, Birhanu Jula, says the seven-group front cannot advance without supplies from Egypt and Sudan, and that Eritrea serves as a bridge. Cairo denies it; none of the accusations have been independently verified.
Seven armed groups announced an alliance to remove Abiy Ahmed and resumed offensives in Tigray, Afar and Amhara, burying the 2022 Pretoria agreement in practice.
Ethiopia expelled six staff members of Sudan's consulate in Assosa, a western city near the Sudanese border, and ordered the mission closed, according to officials from both countries. Sudan's Foreign Ministry said on Saturday that drones used by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) against the country's electricity infrastructure were supplied by the United Arab Emirates and launched from Ethiopia, and that it had filed formal complaints against Addis Ababa at the UN Security Council and the African Union's Peace and Security Council. Sudan accuses Ethiopia of backing the RSF, while Addis Ababa accuses Khartoum of supporting rebels in Tigray; Ethiopia denies backing the RSF and Sudan denies backing the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF). Amjad Farid, political and foreign affairs adviser to Sudan's Transitional Sovereign Council, said the government remains committed to its right to defend its territory but is making every possible effort to avoid an open war with Ethiopia. Ethiopia withdrew three diplomats from its consulate in the eastern Sudanese city of El Gedaref, and reports suggested Sudanese authorities ordered the Ethiopian diplomats there to leave in retaliation; neither foreign ministry issued an official statement on the mutual expulsions, according to the Sudan Tribune. Sudan's civil war, which began in April 2023, has displaced more than 14 million people, according to UN figures, in a Reuters text republished by the Straits Times.
Ethiopia has ordered six Sudanese diplomatic staff members to leave the country within 48 hours, according to a senior Ethiopian official cited by Reuters, in a text republished by Addis Standard. The six were ordered to leave Sudan’s consulate in Assosa, the administrative center of the Benishangul-Gumuz region. The decision comes days after Sudan’s army-aligned government lodged complaints against Ethiopia with the United Nations (UN) Security Council and the African Union Peace and Security Council, accusing Addis Ababa of allowing the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) to use Ethiopian territory to launch drone attacks. Addis Ababa accuses Khartoum of backing Tigrayan rebels, and both sides deny the allegations against them. On October 1, Ethiopia had already closed its embassy in Asmara and declared 10 Eritrean diplomats persona non grata, ordering them to leave within 48 hours.
Former US contractor Abraham Teklu Lemma admitted sharing dozens of classified documents and photographs with Ethiopian officials over more than two years, according to the US Department of Justice. He worked as a contractor at the State Department, the Justice Department and the National Reconnaissance Office, the agency responsible for US intelligence satellites. The material included satellite imagery and details of military activities, passed on through encrypted messages, and the FBI said Ethiopian officials used the intelligence in military operations. In one message to an Ethiopian official in December 2021, Lemma wrote that “we have to finish these people once and for all,” because otherwise there would never be peace in Ethiopia, and later that day he urged the official to send drones. He pleaded guilty to conspiring to transmit national defense information to a foreign government, faces sentencing on April 14, 2027, and could get up to 22 years in prison.
Kenyan authorities, together with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Kenyan Red Cross, began around October 31 registering at the Harhosa and OMC shelters in Marsabit County the Ethiopians fleeing the clashes in Moyale, a border town jointly administered by the Oromia and Somali regions, with more than 50,000 crossings since late October, according to Kenyan media, and agencies appealed for about $8.9 million for three months of response, in an Addis Standard text republished by AllAfrica.
Somaliland President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi formally accepted the credentials of ambassador Michael Lotem at a ceremony in Hargeisa, the territory’s capital, where officials also laid the cornerstone for an Israeli embassy. Israel is the only state in the world to have recognized Somaliland, which also enjoys substantial economic ties to the United Arab Emirates. The mutual recognition between the two countries was signed on December 26, 2025. Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said the appointment of ambassadors is another important step in deepening the ties between the two countries. Abdullahi said during the ceremony that it was the first time a Somaliland president had received the credentials of an ambassador from a UN member state recognizing its independence.
The Indian Navy freed the fishing vessel Azini from armed pirates and rescued all 20 crew members without casualties or injuries, in an operation spanning more than 48 hours. The vessel had been hijacked last month off the northeast coast of Somalia and there was a risk it would be used as a “mother ship” for further attacks on merchant shipping in the region. Marine commandos were dropped by precision airdrop from an Indian Air Force C-17 aircraft, after the vessel was located and contained by non-kinetic measures. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said the operation was completed on November 2, more than 3,000 km from Mumbai. The 20 crew members were Iranian, according to the Mehr News agency.
The first contingent of 109 troops of the Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF) left Mogadishu on Friday, following an announcement by Uganda's army chief, Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba. The withdrawal is being carried out in phases and is expected to be completed in August 2027. Around 4,500 Ugandan troops are stationed in Somalia as part of the African Union mission (AUSSOM), as well as about 2,000 deployed under bilateral agreements. Uganda was the first African country to deploy troops to Somalia, under the African Union mission established in 2007 to help protect the country's transitional government from attacks by Islamist militants. Uganda's army said the withdrawal will mark the end of its 20-year peace and stabilization operations and permit the Somali Armed Forces to assume full responsibility for security in the country.
Uganda has begun withdrawing its troops from Somalia, and the first contingent has already returned home. The withdrawal of all its forces, including those deployed under the African Union Support and Stabilization Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM), is due to be completed by the close of 2027, days after the UN ended its political mission in Somalia.
All forces, including those under the African Union mission, will exit Somalia by the end of 2027 in the phased withdrawal Uganda has begun after nearly two decades of military involvement in the country.
The United Nations political mission in Somalia (UNSOM) ended after a two-year transition, closing a chapter of more than three decades of UN peace operations in the Horn of Africa country. UNSOM was established by the Security Council in 2013 to support Somalia’s transition to democracy and the rule of law after more than two decades of conflict involving militias, Islamist groups and criminal gangs.
The Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) says that 500 soldiers were killed and 800 wounded in clashes with the Ethiopian federal government's army and allied forces in the country's northern Tigray region. The figures were reported by the TPLF-affiliated Dimtsi Weyane television station, could not be independently verified, and the Ethiopian government has not commented on the claims.
Sudan has lodged a complaint against Ethiopia with the United Nations (UN) Security Council and the African Union’s Peace and Security Council after a series of deadly drone attacks this year, according to Al Jazeera.
Somali pirates seized the Iranian fishing vessel Azini, carrying 23 people, and the Maritime Security Centre Indian Ocean warned the ship was approaching a commercial shipping lane and could become a floating base for further attacks. The Azini was hijacked on Thursday between Bandar Bayla and Hafun in northeastern Somalia, a Maritime Police Force officer from Puntland said on Sunday. According to the officer, 12 pirates seized the vessel, which was carrying 21 Iranian crew members and two Somali guards.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed put cabinet ministers and other senior government officials through military training at the Hurso center, saying armed forces discipline can help build stronger leaders, the BBC reported. Those taking part include the speaker of the House of Federation, Muferiat Kamil, the finance minister, Fitsum Assefa, and the health minister, Mekdes Daba. The training comes as Ethiopia faces multiple security challenges, including continued fighting in parts of the northern Tigray region, conflict in Amhara and insecurity in Oromia.
The UN Transitional Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNTMIS) completes its two-year mandate on October 31, after more than three decades of UN political missions in the country, UN News reported. The closure ends three decades of political engagement, Al Jazeera reported.
At least 14 people, including children, were killed in several drone strikes on Thursday (October 29) on a camp for displaced people in Ethiopia's Amhara region, three witnesses told AFP in a report published by The Hindu. Local media and conflict monitors reported at least 16 civilians killed and 22 injured in Thursday's strike on a camp for people displaced by conflict in Ethiopia's northern Amhara region. The camp houses more than 1,800 internally displaced people, many of whom fled violence in the Oromia region, including the Wollega area, according to Anadolu.
Up to an estimated 50,000 people crossed into Kenya, according to local authorities cited by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), following clashes between the armies of southern Ethiopia’s Somali and Oromia regions; UNHCR deployed an emergency team to Moyale.
Sudan accused Ethiopia of providing platforms on its territory for launching drones that recently targeted the country on Wednesday and warned of risks to regional security and stability, according to the Chinese agency Xinhua. Sudanese Foreign Minister Khalid said Sudan reserved the right to defend its security by all legitimate means. Over the past three days, drones the agency links to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have targeted electricity stations in multiple Sudanese states.
Ethiopia received 12 Su-35 fighter jets from Russia, as fighting intensified in the northern Tigray region neighboring Eritrea, according to the BBC, and will acquire four S-400 air defense batteries, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has announced, according to Al Jazeera.
Fighting in southern Ethiopia has pushed some 50,000 people across the border into Kenya since clashes erupted last week, the United Nations said, citing local authorities. Fatima Mohammed-Cole, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) representative for Kenya, said up to 50,000 people have crossed into Kenya, according to local authorities. The clashes pit the armies of the Somali and Oromia regions against each other.
Approximately 36,000 people crossed from Ethiopia into Kenya fleeing conflict in and around Moyale, according to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Kenya, with food, clean water, shelter, sanitation and healthcare as the most urgent needs. Kenya’s National Commission on Human Rights reports about 40,000 refugees in Moyale, with more than 15,000 in eight temporary shelters.
Somalia’s government and Al-Shabaab issued sharply conflicting accounts of fighting near the southern city of Leego, with both sides claiming to have inflicted heavy losses, according to AllAfrica. The Somali defense ministry said federal troops killed 75 militants and wounded 56 others. The Al-Qaeda-linked insurgent group claimed it killed 321 government soldiers in an attack on Turkish-trained troops and an allied militia.
At least 60 Orthodox Christians were killed in separate attacks on October 20 and 24 in Ethiopia’s Oromia region — 14 people on the 20th in Gora Silingo, in Merti, and another 46 on the 24th in Tereta, Chole and Birbo, in Shirka — according to Ethiopian Orthodox Church officials. The attacks were blamed by a local official on a newly formed rebel coalition, the Alliance for Survival, which includes the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA), which has not commented but has denied previous attacks against civilians, according to the BBC.
Residents and the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) conflict monitor told AFP that at least 43 people were killed and 18 wounded when an unidentified armed group attacked villages in the Shirka district of Oromia, around 270 kilometres south of Addis Ababa, in a text republished by Punch. The attack on Orthodox Christian churches and homes in Ethiopia’s central state of Oromia happened on Saturday and killed more than 40 people, residents and the ACLED conflict monitor told AFP, in a text republished by CP24.
More than 14,000 Ethiopians have fled deadly fighting in southern Ethiopia into neighbouring Kenya, humanitarian officials said, amid fears that clashes between rival communities have killed more than a dozen people, according to TRT World. The Kenya Red Cross said more than 10,900 displaced people were being accommodated at six temporary camps in the border town of Moyale, while another 4,000 were staying with relatives and host families.
UN human rights chief Volker Türk condemned on Friday an escalation in drone strikes across Sudan this month that killed at least 306 people and injured hundreds more in the first three weeks of October alone, according to AllAfrica. The strikes, attributed to both the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), hit homes, markets, hospitals, displacement sites, power stations and water sources in Kordofan, Darfur, Blue Nile, Khartoum and other states, according to the UN human rights office (OHCHR).
Drone strikes killed at least six schoolchildren and wounded more than 20 at a primary school in Ethiopia, according to preliminary reports. The strike hit Sana Elementary School in Dera Woreda, in South Gondar Zone of Amhara, on Tuesday, October 20, between 10:00 and 11:00 a.m., according to Addis Standard, in a text republished by AllAfrica. In a separate strike in Finaruo village, Saharti Samre Woreda, in Tigray's Southeastern Zone, four people were killed and six wounded as they loaded livestock onto a truck, local residents said. Addis Standard said it could not independently establish the circumstances of either strike or obtain a response from the Ethiopian military.
Ethiopia has installed a new administration in conflict-hit Tigray after federal forces pushed back Tigrayan fighters, but tensions with Eritrea continue to raise fears of a wider regional war, according to DW.
A drone attack by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Sudan’s paramilitary forces, killed 41 people at a camp for displaced people in the Abu Shandi area of Blue Nile state, on the border with Ethiopia, according to the Emergency Lawyers rights group, cited by the BBC. The strike took place on Friday.
A peace deal signed in November 2022 ended two years of brutal fighting in the Ethiopian state of Tigray, but disputes over political power, territory and the disarmament of armed groups remain unresolved, according to The Hindu. With Addis Ababa and Asmara now on opposing sides again, conflicts raging elsewhere in the region and tensions high across the Red Sea, there are fears of broader contagion, according to Reuters.
Ethiopia’s federal government has established a six-month caretaker administration for the Tigray region, tasked with restoring security, rebuilding damaged infrastructure and organizing elections, according to AllAfrica. The government said repeated efforts to resolve the conflict in Tigray under the Pretoria peace agreement have failed, blaming the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) for obstructing implementation.
Ethiopia accused Eritrea of an “all-out invasion” of its northern Tigray region and warned it will defend itself, according to the BBC. In a letter to the UN Security Council, Ethiopian Foreign Minister Gedion Timothewos called the troop entry a “blatant act of aggression” and said Eritrean forces had advanced up to 60km into Tigray; Eritrea responded that it faces an “unprovoked war of aggression” from its neighbour. For The New York Times, the two countries, once allies, are edging toward war.
US President Donald Trump said on Monday that he recognizes the breakaway republic of Somaliland as “a totally different country”, according to Middle East Eye.
At least 139 people, including children, died after a boat carrying 305 migrants capsized off the coast of Djibouti, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), which released the toll on Sunday, in information from the Associated Press (AP) republished by NBC News. At least 84 people remained missing, in one of the deadliest crossings from the Horn of Africa to the Arabian Peninsula.
Ethiopia accused neighbouring Eritrea of an “all-out invasion” of Tigray and warned that it will defend itself, according to a letter to the Security Council cited by UN News. Eritrea rejected the claim, with its information minister saying the country faces an “unprovoked war of aggression”. UN Secretary-General António Guterres said he is deeply worried by reports that Eritrean forces are present in northern Ethiopia.
A boat sinking off Djibouti overnight on October 8-9 killed at least 109 migrants, including 15 children, and left 116 missing, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The vessel, carrying 350 people from Djibouti to Yemen, capsized north of the town of Obock. IOM teams are on the ground with local authorities providing emergency aid, according to The Hindu.
The UN secretary-general urged an immediate halt to the hostilities in Tigray, Afar and Amhara and a return to dialogue under the Pretoria Agreement framework, in a statement issued on Friday night in New York by his spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric, according to UN News. Also according to UN News, media reports say Ethiopia accused neighbouring Eritrea of an all-out invasion of Tigray and warned that it will defend itself.
Drones attributed to Ethiopian government forces struck Eritrean troops, vehicles and ammunition near the northern Ethiopian town of Adigrat between Wednesday night and Thursday morning, according to The Media Line, in a text published by the Jerusalem Post. In an October 8 letter to the United Nations (UN) Security Council, Ethiopian Foreign Minister Gedion Timothewos accused Eritrea of invading Ethiopian territory and demanded that its troops withdraw. Eritrea on Saturday asked the council to condemn Ethiopia’s “declaration of war”, warning it could destabilise the region, according to AFP, in a text published by LBC.
A foreign security source estimated that 5,000 to 8,000 Eritrean soldiers are present in Tigray, according to AFP, cited by DW, which says various sources have confirmed the presence of Eritrean armed forces in Ethiopia. Ethiopia wrote to the UN Security Council calling for the immediate withdrawal of Eritrean troops from its territory, saying it had no option but to defend itself, according to Reuters, cited by DW.
Ethiopia and Eritrea each accused the other of starting a war of aggression on Friday, as an internal Ethiopian conflict threatened to escalate into a regional war, according to France 24, in a text with AFP. A foreign security source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP they estimated 5,000 to 8,000 Eritrean soldiers were present in Tigray. Witnesses told AFP that the rebels had lost two other cities in the region, Shire and Adigrat.
Ethiopia told the UN Security Council that Eritrean forces, including mechanized units, advanced up to 37 miles (about 60 kilometres) into its northern territory, according to Africa Today News New York. The letter says the presence of the troops engages Ethiopia's inherent right to self-defense, and it describes the incursion as an “all-out invasion”. Residents of Adigrat told the BBC that Eritrean soldiers had crossed into northern Ethiopia heading towards an area of clashes in Tigray.
Ethiopian drones struck units of the Eritrean Army in the city of Adigrat, in Tigray, in the early hours of October 8, according to the Russian agency TASS. A local resident said several Eritrean military trucks were destroyed.
Ethiopian federal forces entered Mekelle, the capital of Tigray, after rebels withdrew from the city, in fighting that effectively ended the 2022 Pretoria ceasefire, with reports of Eritrean troops in northern Tigray, after Ethiopia closed its embassy in Eritrea and expelled diplomats on October 1, accusing Asmara of hostile acts and involvement in the fighting, according to Al Jazeera.
Eritrean troops have entered Ethiopia, raising fears of a direct confrontation with Addis Ababa, according to Le Monde. In recent days, the troops have deployed around a town in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region, a local official and residents said, after two weeks of internal conflict threatening a wider regional war, according to AFP, in a report published by Modern Ghana.
Egypt, Eritrea, Sudan and Somalia issued a joint declaration after meeting in Egypt's New Alamein, affirming “the principle of freedom of navigation” and saying that “the governance of the Red Sea is the exclusive responsibility of the littoral states”. Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed renewed his call for access to the Red Sea, saying his landlocked country will work to secure an outlet to the sea.
Witnesses describe a broad campaign of forced recruitment in Tigray, targeting men and boys between the ages of 15 and 65 — according to The Guardian. Renewed conflict erupted on September 23 between Ethiopia’s federal government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), breaking the November 2022 Pretoria agreement. Human Rights Watch says Tigray authorities have been abducting and unlawfully recruiting civilians, including children as young as 15, since at least April 2026.
Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed insisted that his landlocked country must have access to the Red Sea, despite a conflict in the north. In Parliament, he said that, based on the principle of give and take, Ethiopia will work diligently to ensure an outlet to the sea. Four of the five countries bordering the Red Sea — Egypt, Eritrea, Sudan and Somalia — met on Sunday, according to Al Jazeera.
Airstrikes and artillery fire hit the Tigray region, in northern Ethiopia, overnight into Monday, in clashes between the federal government and rebels, according to aid sources cited by Reuters, in a text republished by The Hindu. Airstrikes killed at least 17 people northwest of Mekelle, Tigray's capital taken by federal forces over the weekend, according to a bulletin circulated among humanitarian groups. On Monday morning, Ethiopian military and Tigrayan forces exchanged heavy artillery fire near the Tekeze River, close to the town of Mai Tsebri, according to the same bulletin.
Egypt, Eritrea, Somalia and Sudan called for political and peaceful solutions amid escalating conflicts across the region, according to Al Jazeera, in a joint declaration on Sunday following a meeting in New Alamein City in Egypt; the declaration also said control of the Red Sea should remain with the coastal states.
Ethiopian federal forces were in full control of Mekelle, the Tigray rebels' regional capital, according to a local journalist, on Sunday, as Ethiopia's regional rivals gathered in Egypt. The presidents of Egypt, Somalia, Sudan and Eritrea, all with difficult relations with Ethiopia, were set to meet in Alamein on Sunday to discuss the conflict, according to AFP. The People's Liberation Front of Tigray (TPLF) said it had temporarily moved out of Mekelle to operate from somewhere else, according to Al Jazeera.
Federal forces took control of Mekelle, the regional capital of Tigray, after leaders and troops of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) abandoned the city without a fight on Saturday, according to AFP, in a text published by The Hindu. The presidents of Egypt, Somalia, Sudan and Eritrea, all of whom have difficult relations with Ethiopia, were set to meet in the Egyptian city of Alamein on Sunday to discuss the conflict. Ethiopia has accused Eritrea of directly backing the Tigray rebels, with the added support of Sudan and Egypt, which all three countries deny.
Ethiopia’s government forces said they seized Mekelle from Tigray fighters after a week of intense battles. The federal army and pro-government fighters recaptured the main airport in the capital of the northern Tigray region, with the rebels seen leaving the city, according to unnamed sources. One source with knowledge of events in the city and a humanitarian source told Reuters that the Ethiopian National Defence Forces regained control of Alula Aba Nega Airport in Mekelle.
Explosions sounded this week in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital, a city rarely under direct attack, according to The Washington Post. Clashes between government troops and rebel groups have killed scores of civilians in the north in recent days and are spilling south toward the pilgrimage site of Lalibela, according to The Washington Post.
Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said the country will not accept an Israeli presence “under any circumstances” and will resist any attempts to be pulled into the Middle East’s crises, according to Al Jazeera. Israel plans to establish a naval base in Berbera, on the Gulf of Aden, and is seeking access to the city’s airport, according to Ahram Online. Berbera is a port city on the Gulf of Aden coast in Somaliland, the self-declared republic in northwestern Somalia that Israel recognised last year and that Mogadishu claims, according to Al Jazeera.
Ethiopian federal forces and pro-government fighters recaptured the main airport in Mekelle, the capital of the northern Tigray region, with rebels seen leaving the city, according to unnamed sources cited by Reuters and AFP in a text published by Al Jazeera. The airport is about 10 km from the centre of Mekelle and was one of three airfields seized by the rebels at the start of the fighting, on September 23. Al Jazeera notes that it could not independently confirm the reports, with media access heavily restricted in Ethiopia and significant communications blackouts.
Ethiopia’s army is advancing toward the Tigrayan capital as fighting intensifies, according to France24. The African Union urged all sides to show restraint amid the escalation. Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) Vice President Amanuel Assefa said the situation is now one of “full-blown war”, according to AFP, as reported by the Council on Foreign Relations.
Fighting is intensifying across northern Ethiopia and has spread from Tigray into the neighbouring Amhara and Afar regions, according to Al Jazeera. Government-aligned forces say they captured the strategic town of Alamata, Tigray, on September 28, while Tigrayan forces have pushed into Afar, according to the same broadcaster. Seven armed and political groups announced on September 20 an alliance aimed at removing Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government and establishing an inclusive transitional government, also according to Al Jazeera.
Eritrea severed all diplomatic ties with Ethiopia in retaliation, saying it had no option but to reciprocate in kind. The move came after Ethiopia ordered the closure of its embassy in Eritrea and declared 10 Eritrean diplomats persona non grata. The break comes as renewed fighting in northern Ethiopia raises fears of a wider regional conflict, according to the BBC.
Ethiopia ordered the closure of its embassy in Eritrea and gave 10 Eritrean diplomats 48 hours to leave the country, according to ChimpReports. On Thursday, Eritrea said it was breaking diplomatic ties with Ethiopia, in response to the earlier expulsion of its diplomats from Addis Ababa, according to AFP, in a text published by Ahram Online. Eritrea's foreign ministry said it had no option but to reciprocate and sever all diplomatic ties: “Eritrea has no option but to reciprocate in kind and sever all diplomatic ties with Ethiopia with all the negative corollaries that this entails,” the ministry said in a statement on X.
Blasts were heard overnight in Addis Ababa, hours after the Ethiopian capital instituted a ban on drone-flying in the city and surrounding areas, three diplomatic sources told Reuters. A source linked to the Ethiopian Peoples’ Forces Alliance for Survival told Al Jazeera the alliance had carried out several drone strikes in the capital, including some targeting the military’s headquarters. On the ground, government forces advanced from Amhara deep into Tigray, reaching within about 40 kilometres (25 miles) of Mekelle, according to Al Jazeera’s Muhammed Taha Tawakel, reporting from Afar on Wednesday.
Five crew members of the Palau-flagged oil tanker MT Honour 25 were killed by pirates off the coast of Somalia, before security forces rescued the ship, according to Somali authorities. Among the dead were three from Pakistan, one from Myanmar and one from India. The ship, which was carrying 18,500 barrels of oil and had been seized on April 21, was freed in the rescue operation.
Fighting between the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and Ethiopia’s federal government, led by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, resumed on Wednesday, raising fears of a return to the 2020-2022 civil war, in which an estimated 600,000 people died. Sudan’s military denied in a statement on Sunday the accusations by Ethiopia’s army commander that Sudan and Egypt back armed groups fighting Ethiopian troops in the north of the country, calling them “baseless”, according to Al Jazeera.
Ethiopia’s army chief accused Egypt and Sudan of supporting a new alliance of armed groups trying to remove Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, according to Euronews. Marshal Birhanu Jula said that neither Eritrea nor the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) could achieve anything alone without external support, according to France 24. The accusation comes as fighting has resumed in northern Ethiopia, according to Euronews.
Ethiopia’s Army Chief of Staff Field Marshal Berhanu Jula said the army was responding with “wisdom and restraint” to what he called provocations from the Tigray front, according to Al Jazeera. The fighting has spread from Tigray into neighbouring Afar and Amhara regions after seven armed groups announced an alliance committed to removing Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government.
Fighting has erupted again in Tigray, in northern Ethiopia, between regional forces and the national army. Tigrayan forces seized control of the airports in Mekelle, Axum and Shire, according to the United Nations, in a Reuters report republished by CNBC Africa. The African Union (AU) called for an immediate cessation of hostilities and a return to direct talks.
Telecom and internet networks stopped working in Tigray on Friday, 25 September 2026, amid the escalation of fighting in northern Ethiopia. Services run by state-owned Ethio Telecom were completely cut, the BBC reported, and internet monitor NetBlocks detected a disruption corresponding to reports of a telecoms blackout in the region, Al Jazeera reported.
Ethiopia’s army said it repelled attacks by Tigrayan forces and their allies in parts of the north of the country, its first military statement since fighting resumed on September 24, 2026, according to the BBC. On Wednesday, September 23, 2026, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which dominates the region, seized control of three airports from federal police, including the one in Mekelle, and Ethiopian Airlines cancelled flights to Tigray, the BBC reports. Residents of Mekelle said the city is calm but tense, with fighting outside the city limits and the risk of communications being cut and of cash shortages, according to the BBC.
Rebels in Ethiopia’s Tigray region seized local airports and launched attacks into the neighbouring Afar and Amhara regions, saying they were once again in “full-blown war” with the federal government, RFI reports, citing AFP. Ethiopian forces battled overnight to repel an assault in the Afar region, while monitor NetBlocks recorded an internet disruption in the north of the country, consistent with a telecoms blackout in Tigray.
Young men in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region say they are leaving because they fear being forcibly recruited to fight as political and military tensions rise, according to Al Jazeera; Human Rights Watch reported in July 2026 that Tigrayan authorities and forces had forcibly recruited civilians, including children as young as 15, since at least April 2026; the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) disputes the allegations, saying young people are joining voluntarily, the outlet reports.
South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir dissolved the transitional unity government set up under the 2018 peace agreement on Tuesday, September 22, 2026, and appointed a caretaker administration to steer the country to its first national elections, scheduled for December 22, 2026, according to Radio Tamazuj and Al Jazeera. The republican order read out on state broadcaster South Sudan Broadcasting Corporation (SSBC) removed First Vice-President Riek Machar and all four vice-presidents, dissolved the Transitional National Legislative Assembly, the Council of States, the 10 state governments and the three administrative areas, and kept Kiir in office through the electoral period until a newly elected president is sworn in. The dissolution came a day after parliament passed amendments to the 2012 National Elections Act that dropped the requirement to complete a permanent constitution and a national census before the vote, two steps set out in the 2018 deal. The South Sudan Opposition Alliance rejected the changes for lack of consultation among the agreement’s signatories, and analysts told Agence France-Presse (AFP) the arrangement concentrates power in the president: “Kiir will be the only person in power, without vice-presidents, without the executive, without the parliament,” lawyer Michael Wani, a former member of the constitution-drafting committee, told AFP. Machar, Kiir’s longtime rival, remains under house arrest on charges including treason and murder, which he denies. Amnesty International called the decree a “decisive step” towards the country’s first election since independence in 2011 and urged the authorities to ensure a safe environment in which people can vote and stand for office.
Seven Ethiopian armed groups announced an alliance to remove the government in Addis Ababa and install a transitional administration, according to the BBC and Al Jazeera. The coalition, named the Ethiopian Peoples’ Forces Alliance for Survival, brings together the Amhara Fano militia, the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA), the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and four smaller groups: the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), the Afar Revolutionary Democratic Unity Front, the Benishangul Peoples’ Liberation Movement and the Gumuz Peoples’ Democratic Movement. Together they cover six of the country’s twelve regional states. Fano leader Zemene Kasse will chair the alliance, according to TPLF vice president Amanuel Assefa. The federal government has not commented on the announcement.
Seven Ethiopian armed groups, including Amhara’s Fano, the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), announced on Sunday the formation of the “Alliance for Survival”, aimed at removing Abiy Ahmed’s government and installing a transitional administration, according to the BBC and Al Jazeera; federal authorities have not yet responded.