Ethiopian government forces and allied fighters say they have captured Alamata, a strategic town in southern Tigray, as renewed fighting with Tigrayan forces spreads across northern Ethiopia. The Tigray Peace Force, a Tigrayan group aligned with the federal government, announced the capture on Monday. Some videos online showed soldiers in Alamata, while diplomatic sources also confirmed that the town had fallen, although the extent of government control remained unclear. Located about 120 kilometres south of Tigray’s capital, Mekelle, Alamata is an important supply and transport hub near the border with Amhara. Its capture would represent a setback for the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which launched a major offensive last week across Tigray, Amhara and Afar.
Tigrayan forces have also seized airports in Mekelle, Axum and Shire, while fighting has spread toward Afar, where the town of Erebti was reported captured by Tigrayan forces. The conflict has disrupted transport and communications and prompted Ethiopian Airlines to suspend flights to the affected Tigrayan airports. The renewed fighting has effectively shattered the fragile calm established by the November 2022 Pretoria peace agreement, which ended the 2020–2022 Tigray war. That conflict caused hundreds of thousands of deaths and displaced millions, according to various estimates.
The humanitarian situation is also deteriorating. Médecins Sans Frontières reported more than 420 wounded people arriving at hospitals in Korem and Alamata within 48 hours, while another 300 wounded people were reported at Suhul Hospital. Humanitarian sources estimate that around 150,000 people have been displaced since the latest fighting began. With telecommunications disrupted in Tigray and fighting continuing on several fronts, international organisations have called for de-escalation and a return to dialogue to prevent the conflict from developing into another prolonged humanitarian crisis.
