Pope Leo XIV has appealed for an end to renewed fighting in Ethiopia’s Tigray region and neighbouring Afar and Amhara, urging all sides to pursue dialogue and avert a return to prolonged conflict.
The Pope made the appeal on Wednesday as clashes between Ethiopian federal forces and fighters affiliated with the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) intensified, threatening a fragile peace agreement that ended a two-year war in 2022.
The renewed violence began escalating last week, with Tigrayan forces mobilising for an armed campaign aimed at removing Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s federal government.
In his appeal, Pope Leo also called on the international community to provide “generous” and timely humanitarian assistance to communities affected by the fighting.
“Armed conflict never solves problems but only worsens them, leaving in its wake a trail of death, destruction and resentment,” he said.
Fighting has continued on several fronts, with government forces reportedly advancing northwards into Tigray towards the regional capital, Mekelle.
Pro-government forces said they captured the strategic town of Alamata in southern Tigray on Monday, while residents interviewed by AFP at a hospital reported heavy shelling in the northern town of Maychew.
A senior health worker at Aydar Referral Hospital, the largest medical facility in Mekelle, said 44 critically injured civilians, including 33 children, had been admitted after shelling in Maychew and Alamata between Saturday and Monday.
“Some are blinded, some have their legs and hands amputated from the bombing,” the health worker said, adding that at least four people died while being transported to the hospital from the two towns.
The previous war between Prime Minister Abiy’s government and the TPLF, which has long dominated politics in Tigray, ended with the signing of the Pretoria Peace Agreement in 2022.
However, key provisions of the agreement were never fully implemented.
Since late 2025, the Ethiopian government has carried out multiple drone strikes in Tigray and deployed troops along the region’s borders, while the TPLF removed a government-appointed administration from power.
The renewed clashes have raised fears of a wider escalation and a return to the devastating conflict that previously caused widespread displacement and a severe humanitarian crisis.
