Ethiopian Forces Claim Capture of Strategic Tigray Town Alamata

Ethiopian pro-government forces said on Sept 28 they had seized Alamata, a strategic southern Tigray town that functions as a critical logistics point for moving soldiers, supplies and fuel close to the Amhara border, as renewed fighting broke apart a peace agreement signed in November 2022.¹²³

Town changes hands

According to multiple reports, Ethiopian federal forces and allied militiamen took control of Alamata, which lies roughly 120 kilometres south of the Tigray regional capital Mekelle, though one source placed Mekelle 120km north of Alamata as a disputed figure. The town has changed hands several times during the 2020-2022 civil war, which killed hundreds of thousands of people.¹³⁷

The pro-government Tigrai Peace Force said it had captured Alamata and shared footage on Facebook that appeared to show soldiers moving through the town's streets. Diplomatic sources cited by one outlet said pro-government forces had entered Alamata, though full control was initially unclear.²⁴⁷

A pro-opposition source said fighters were "retreating from Alamata and expected the town to be under federal military control in a matter of hours."²³

Peace deal shattered

The fighting, which resumed last week, has broken the Pretoria Agreement, a peace deal signed in November 2022 that had held for nearly four years. Fighting has spread across Tigray, Amhara and Afar regions. The Tigray People's Liberation Front, which held sway over Ethiopian politics for nearly thirty years until Abiy's appointment as prime minister in 2018 ended its dominance, formed a coalition with six additional armed factions not long before beginning its offensive, according to reports.¹²³⁴

Ethiopia's top military commander, Berhanu Jula, said: "Eritrea was supporting the opposition forces, alongside Sudan's armed forces and Egypt." Eritrea and Sudan "denied the allegations," while Egypt did not respond to the claims.¹³

The Tigray People's Liberation Front ordered telecommunications networks in the region to be shut down, and internet and phone services in Tigray remained disrupted, according to several reports.²³⁴

The International Committee of the Red Cross evacuated 161 people from Mekelle to Afar on Monday.²³⁴⁶

Fighting spreads to Afar

The Afar regional government said Eritrean forces had seized control of over two-thirds of the region, with one report indicating the troops were advancing to sever Ethiopia's route to Djibouti. Rebels captured the Afar town of Erebti following intense artillery bombardment, and a single source reported that the region's displaced population had reached at least 150,000.⁶

Tigray is also facing drought linked to the El Nino weather pattern. The UN refugee agency reported around 750,000 Tigrayans were internally displaced as of February, though this figure was disputed by one outlet. One report noted that the previous 2020-2022 war had driven hundreds of thousands of local residents into starvation.¹²³