Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said on September 28 that it had suspended work at Alamata hospital. The group said war wounded patients had surged across northern Ethiopia after fighting resumed between the Tigray People’s Liberation Front and its allies and the Ethiopian National Defence Forces. MSF said the renewed fighting had broken the fragile 2022 peace agreement after a period of rising tensions, large scale fighting and drone strikes.
Between September 22 and 25, MSF said the number of war wounded patients received at Korem and Alamata hospitals rose in 48 hours from around 180 to more than 420.
In northwestern Tigray, MSF teams supported Suhul hospital in Shire, where more than 300 war wounded patients had arrived by September 25, MSF said. The group said it still supports hospitals in Shire, Sheraro and Korem, including maternal and child health care. It has also suspended outreach work because the area is not safe, and it has moved staff to hospitals where the number of war wounded is rising fast.
MSF said it is tracking displacement as people flee the fighting. It is preparing to help displaced people in Tigray, Amhara and Afar. The group said it remains worried about civilian safety and access to health care. In its September 28 update, MSF also said it normally supports health facilities in Oromia, Somali, Amhara, Tigray, Afar, Gambella and Southwest Ethiopia.
Al Jazeera reported the wider fighting in Tigray, Amhara and Afar on September 29. The Tigray Peace Force, a group of Tigrayan fighters aligned with the federal government, said it had captured Alamata together with the national army. Alamata is about 120 kilometers south of Mekelle, the capital of Tigray. Al Jazeera described it as a supply hub for troops, fuel and food near Tigray’s southern border with Amhara. Reuters verified video that showed soldiers walking through Alamata carrying Ethiopian flags. Two diplomatic sources told Reuters that the town had fallen.
Al Jazeera said the latest fighting began after Tigrayan rebel forces seized three airports in Tigray and pushed into neighboring Afar and Amhara. The Tigray People’s Liberation Front says it is fighting a defensive war. It has accused federal forces of drone and heavy artillery attacks. Federal forces and their allies have since counterattacked.
Al Jazeera cited an Ethiopian commander who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity. It reported that Tigrayan forces had seized Erebti, a strategically important town in Afar, over the weekend. The Tigray Peace Force confirmed that Erebti had fallen but disputed reports that the fighting there was intense, according to AP.
Al Jazeera said an offensive in Afar could threaten supply routes from Djibouti. Most Ethiopian imports, including fuel, move through those routes. Afar’s governor told Al Jazeera that Eritrean forces were taking part in the fighting, held more than two thirds of the region, and were moving to cut the road that links Djibouti and Eritrea. The Eritrean government had not replied to the claims when Al Jazeera published its report.
Fighting has also reached Amhara, including around North Wollo. The Ethiopian military said about 270 Tigrayan fighters were killed there and more than 200 were wounded. Those casualty figures come from the military. They had not been fully verified on their own.
Valerie Browning, cofounder of the Afar Pastoralist Development Association, told AP that about 150,000 people have been displaced since the latest fighting began. Al Jazeera also reported the MSF patient figures for Korem, Alamata and Suhul.
Days before the latest offensive, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front joined six other armed groups to form the Ethiopian Peoples’ Forces Alliance for Survival. The alliance says it wants to remove Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government and set up a transitional administration. Al Jazeera named the Oromo Liberation Army and the Amhara Fano National Movement as two of the largest members. The groups have fought each other before.
A September 16 summary in English of an Amhara Association of America weekly update covered September 7 to 13. It logged fighting between Amhara Fano forces and units tied to Abiy Ahmed’s Prosperity Party government in eight Amhara zones: North Wollo, South Wollo, North Shewa, East Gojjam, West Gojjam, Awi, North Gojjam and Central Gonder. The summary recorded claims of harm to civilians in North Mecha and Wegera and drone activity in Bahir-Dar-Zuriya. It also recorded claims of coordinated drone strikes on primary schools in Sana and Mecho in Dera Woreda during student registration. The exact death toll had not been checked independently.
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