Security

How the Tigray War in Ethiopia Could Spread Across the Horn of Africa

Deutsche Welle · 2 days ago · Read the Full Story on Deutsche Welle
How the Tigray War in Ethiopia Could Spread Across the Horn of Africa
AI SUMMARY

The renewed conflict in Ethiopia's Tigray region threatens to spark a broader regional war involving Eritrea, Sudan, and shifting alliances across the Horn of Africa.

  • Tigrayan forces launched a major offensive on September 23, with fighting also reported in Afar and Amhara.
  • The renewed fighting threatens the fragile peace established by the 2022 Pretoria peace agreement.
  • British journalist and Horn of Africa expert Martin Plaut warns that conflict between Eritrea and Ethiopia could involve Sudanese forces and drag the region into war.
  • ACLED senior analyst Jalale Getachew Birru states that the conflict is connected to a broader pattern of instability across the Horn of Africa.
  • African Union Commission Chairperson Mahmoud Ali Youssouf warned that new political and military alliances risk reversing progress made since 2020.
  • The TPLF recently joined six other Ethiopian armed groups in an alliance seeking to remove Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's government.
  • Fighting in the Afar region threatens the main transport corridor linking landlocked Ethiopia to Djibouti.
  • Plaut argues that Ethiopia and Eritrea are already indirectly involved on opposing sides of Sudan's civil war between the SAF and RSF.
  • Strategic locations like the Bab el-Mandeb Strait link the Horn of Africa's stability to international shipping and regional powers like Saudi Arabia and the UAE.