Clashes have broken out in western Tigray, marking one of the most serious breaches yet of the 2022 Pretoria peace agreement that ended one of Africa's deadliest recent conflicts. Fighting was reported near Sheraro, a town close to the Sudanese border in Tigray — the northernmost region of Ethiopia — with both the federal government and the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) blaming each other for firing the opening shots.

Tigray's regional government, based in the regional capital Mekelle, said federal forces launched an assault at dawn on Saturday, advancing from the direction of Sheraro. Tigrayan authorities described the situation as a full-scale war, alleging that Ethiopia's ruling Prosperity Party had already waged a prolonged blockade and drone campaign against the region before this latest escalation. The regional government called on Tigrayan forces, civil society and religious institutions to mobilise for what it termed a struggle of "national survival." On the federal side, government minister Abraham Belay confirmed the clashes but accused TPLF chairman Debretsion Gebremichael's forces of initiating them, calling for dialogue instead of armed confrontation.

The TPLF is the party that governed Ethiopia for nearly three decades before Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed came to power in 2018. A devastating war between federal forces and the TPLF began in 2020 and killed hundreds of thousands before being halted by the Pretoria Agreement in November 2022. However, analysts and officials warned for years that the deal left core disputes unresolved — including questions over disarmament, the TPLF's legal status, and the status of disputed territories. By mid-July 2026, the TPLF had declared the Pretoria agreement "effectively dead," even as US Ambassador Ervin Massinga travelled to Mekelle in a last-ditch effort to preserve it. In June, the United States had imposed visa restrictions on TPLF figures it described as "hardliners" blocking peace; the TPLF called that characterisation "incomplete and imbalanced."

The renewed fighting comes despite sustained international diplomatic efforts. Kjetil Tronvoll, an Ethiopia specialist at Oslo New University College, described the clashes as the "most serious incident" since the 2022 ceasefire, stressing that the deal had halted the war without addressing its underlying causes. Regional analyst Faisal Roble warned that without a powerful international intervention, the situation could escalate into "a much larger war" — a prospect that carries grave humanitarian consequences for a region still recovering from a conflict that left hundreds of thousands dead and millions displaced.