Eritrea Withdraws From IGAD Amid Rising Tensions With Ethiopia
Eritrea has left the East African regional bloc, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, accusing it of bias and weakening legitimacy as escalating disputes with Ethiopia fuel fears of renewed conflict (BBC)
New Tigrayan Rebel Group Threatens Ethiopia’s Fragile Peace
The newly formed Tigray Peace Force, comprised of disgruntled former Tigray Defense Forces fighters and mid-level Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) commanders, has clashed with TPLF-aligned forces and conducted raids in Ethiopia’s Afar region (Africa Defense Forum)
Ethiopia, Eritrea Dial Up Rhetoric
Observers fear Ethiopia’s increasingly forceful demands for access to the Red Sea—including cryptic remarks from Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed—could reignite longstanding tensions between the regional adversaries (BBC)
More Marburg Deaths in Ethiopia
Ethiopia’s state-run news agency suggested that the outbreak, which began on November 14, has killed six people to date, with five other carriers remaining under medical treatment; the number of individuals isolated due to close contact with carriers has increased to 349 (Reuters)
Marburg Virus Kills Three
The Ethiopian Health Ministry announced that three of the individuals recently infected with the virus have died; authorities have isolated more than one hundred people who have come in contact with carriers of the disease (Reuters)
The World Health Organization, which has worked with Ethiopia to contain the outbreak, praised the country’s quick response to the health challenge (AP)
Separately, in Eritrea, Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel accused Ethiopia’s leadership of pushing belligerent rhetoric to justify military action, in response to Ethiopian Foreign Minister Gedion Timothewos’s recent suggestion that access to the Red Sea was an “existential matter” (Eritrea Focus)
Fear of a renewed war between the two countries has surged in recent weeks (Foreign Policy)
Marburg Virus Outbreak in Ethiopia
The Ethiopian government suggested that the source of an outbreak infecting at least nine individuals in the country was the Marburg virus, a highly lethal and contagious disease classified in the same virus family as Ebola; the government has been in contact with the World Health Organization to address the outbreak (Reuters)
Tigray Fighters Accused of Entering Ethiopia’s Afar Region
Authorities in Ethiopia’s Afar region accused fighters from the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) of entering the territory by force, taking six villages and bombing civilians with mortars; the Afar Regional Administration called on the TPLF to back down, threatening to “assume its defensive duty” in order to protect the region from external attacks (Al Jazeera)
Ethiopia’s Red Sea Ambitions
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed called for international mediation to secure Red Sea access for landlocked Ethiopia, calling it “inevitable;” Eritrea, which borders Ethiopia and the Red Sea, called the statements “reckless” (Bloomberg)
Tensions between the countries, which fought a war between 1998 and 2000, have been rising in recent weeks (BBC)
Report Finds Nearly 300,000 Women and Girls Suffered Gender-Based Violence in Tigray
A report by the Commission of Inquiry on Tigray Genocide found that 286,250 women and girls experienced at least one form of gender-based violence, with 166,621 reporting sexual violence; victims ranged in age from two to eighty-eight (Addis Standard)
ICRC: Many Killed, Wounded in North Wollo in Escalating Conflict
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has scaled up its humanitarian response in Ethiopia’s Amhara region following deadly clashes; the ICRC delivered supplies to treat 250 severely wounded people, while also evacuating 16 critically injured people (ICRC)
Ethiopia Claims Eritrea Preparing for War
In a letter to UN Secretary-General António Guterres, Ethiopia’s foreign minister warned that Eritrea is allegedly backing armed groups alongside a hardline Tigrayan faction to destabilize Ethiopia, as tensions continue to rise over Addis Ababa’s push to regain Red Sea access (BBC)
Tigray Rebels Plead With Peace Deal Guarantors
The Tigray People’s Liberation Front urged the United States, European Union, African Union, and United Nations to enforce the 2022 Pretoria Peace Agreement, saying most provisions remain unfulfilled and accused the guarantors of allowing a “silent genocide” amid worsening humanitarian conditions in Tigray (Addis Standard)
Abiy Approves Major Ethiopian Army Reshuffle
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed promoted sixty-six senior officers in the Ethiopian National Defense Forces, including four to the rank of general, in one of the largest reshuffles in recent years; the move expands the military’s leadership amid ongoing domestic insurgencies and rising regional tensions over Red Sea access (Addis Standard)
Meanwhile, Human Rights First Ethiopia, a domestic civil society group, released a report warning of increased civilian deaths, injuries, and unlawful detentions in the Tigray and Afar regions, suggesting that impunity and political conflicts are fueling unrest (Ethiopian Reporter)
Tigray Interim Leader Rejects Revocation of TPLF’s Legal Status
Lieutenant General Tadesse Werede called the National Election Board of Ethiopia’s decision to strip the TPLF of its legal status “unacceptable” and urged a negotiated political settlement instead of sanctions, warning that excluding the party could undermine the peace process (Addis Standard)
Nonetheless, Werede said his administration will preserve relations with Addis Ababa, emphasizing the necessity for dialogue (Ethiopian Reporter)
Tigray Interim President Warns of Renewed War Risk
Lieutenant General Tadesse Werede warned of a “visible cloud of war” and urged Ethiopia’s federal government to fully implement the Pretoria Peace Agreement, citing unfulfilled provisions on sovereignty, displaced persons, and humanitarian issues; over eight hundred Tigrayan leaders reiterated the call (Addis Standard)
Trump Renews U.S. National Emergency on Northern Ethiopia
U.S. President Donald Trump extended a Biden-era measure designating the conflict in northern Ethiopia as an “extraordinary threat” to U.S. national security and foreign policy, keeping the emergency in effect through September 2026 (U.S. Federal Register)
Abiy Says Ethiopia Will Regain Assab Port
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed vowed that his country would restore access to Eritrea’s Red Sea port of Assab, calling its loss a “past mistake” and linking maritime access to national survival; senior Ethiopian officials echoed the call, while Eritrea’s information minister denounced the remarks as “reckless saber-rattling” (Ethiopian Reporter)
Clashes in Southern Tigray Leave Five Wounded
An attempted arrest of a local security official in Mekoni sparked shooting that injured five civilians, prompting protests against the military presence in the town; Tigrayan commanders denied wrongdoing, while the Tigray Independence Party accused authorities of waging war on civilians and urged broader resistance (Addis Standard)
Tensions Rise as Ethiopia, Eritrea Threaten War
Ethiopia and Eritrea’s long-standing rivalry has escalated, with both sides fortifying their shared border and leaders exchanging increasingly hostile rhetoric over Ethiopia’s ambitions for Red Sea access; concurrently, emerging alliances between Eritrea and factions of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, alongside disputes over contested territories, have deepened the crisis and heightened the risk of renewed conflict, analysts warn (ADF)
Health Workers Report “Horrific” Attacks by Ethiopian and Eritrean Soldiers in Tigray
Hundreds of health workers across Tigray have documented mass rape, sexual slavery, forced pregnancy, and sexual torture of women and children by Ethiopian and Eritrean soldiers, in acts that amount to crimes against humanity, a new report by Physicians for Human Rights and the Organization for Justice and Accountability in the Horn of Africa has found; the authors outline evidence of systematic attacks designed to destroy the fertility of Tigrayan women and call for international bodies to investigate the crime of genocide (Guardian)
MSF Accuses Ethiopian Soldiers of Killing Three Staffers
Doctors Without Borders released a report detailing the murder of three of its staffers four years ago as an “intentional and targeted killing” by the Ethiopian National Defense Force and accused the federal government of failing to investigate and release its findings (AP)
Ethiopia-Eritrea Border Opening Signals “Peace and Reconciliation” for Border Towns
Celebrations commenced along the border between Ethiopia and Eritrea as surrounding communities united for the first time in five years; the border has been shut down since the 2022 eruption of violence in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, and subsequent political tensions have kept it closed (BBC)
TPFL Says Ban Threatens Ethiopia Peace Deal
The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) has condemned the revocation of its legal status as a party by the national election agency, calling the move a “serious threat” to the 2022 peace agreement that ended two years of conflict in the northern Tigray region (BBC)
Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) Banned From 2026 Elections
Ethiopia’s Election Commission stated that it chose to deregister the TPLF after it failed to properly organize a general assembly and conduct “internal elections”; the move comes as tensions and violence in the Tigray region have risen due to internal discord between TPLF factions (Bloomberg)
Government Drone Strike in Amhara Region Kills Over One Hundred Civilians
An Ethiopian government drone strike on the town of Finote Selam in the Amhara region killed over a hundred civilians, according to local reports and human rights groups; authorities claimed the strike targeted Fano militia fighters resisting disarmament, but witnesses and activists said civilians bore the brunt of the attack (AllAfrica)