In northern Ethiopia, hundreds of Tigrayans, including wounded fighters, have been fleeing into Sudan after fighting broke out between the Ethiopian federal army and Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) rebels in Shererina. The Tigray refugees flee Sudan crisis has raised fears that a three-year-old peace deal could unravel, potentially triggering another brutal war.
The weekend clashes, which involved heavy artillery and drones, marked a breach of the peace agreement in place since the two sides ended their previous conflict. By 5pm (14:00 GMT) on Sunday, the fighting, which began early Saturday, had subsided. “There is a de-escalation,” a TPLF member said on Sunday.
Both Sides Trade Blame Over the Clashes
The Tigray rebels said the Ethiopian army launched the attack, accusing it of having intensified its destructive actions and taken them to a higher level. The rebels denounced what they described as a large-scale infantry offensive.
Federal troops and Tigrayan forces have for several months been massed along the border of northern Tigray, with both sides accusing each other of seeking to trigger a new conflict.
A Fragile Peace at Risk
Fears of a new war have grown less than four years after the end of a bloody conflict between the two sides, the TPLF, backed by local militias, and the Eritrean army, which left at least 600,000 people dead, according to an African Union estimate.
Explosions Reported Near Refugee Camps at the Border
Al Jazeera’s Osama Sayed Ahmad, reporting from Ad-Damazin, the capital of Blue Nile, Sudan, said the security tensions occurring at the border take place against the backdrop of fighting between the Ethiopian army and Tigray fighters in the area. He said drone or artillery fire had caused explosions in several large refugee camps near the border, though casualty numbers were not available. The UNHCR has expressed concern about the border tensions.
Residents on the Sudanese side of the border also reported hearing explosions and sustained gunfire throughout the fighting.
