TPLF forces seize control of Alula Aba Nega Airport, abduct federal police personnel, and trigger sweeping flight suspensions as regional conflict escalates along the Afar boundary
Staff Reporter
(Nairobi, Kenya) — Fighting has broken out between federal forces and TPLF forces along the regional border between Tigray and Afar, expanding active conflict zones across northern Ethiopia.
The crisis deepened following a major development at Alula Aba Nega International Airport in Mekelle on Wednesday, where TPLF forces seized control of the facility and abducted federal police forces posted at the airport, prompting Ethiopian Airlines to suspend regional flights.
Humanitarian organization personnel stationed in the region confirmed that active combat began in the Abala and Erebti woredas along the Tigray-Afar regional boundaries. Relief agencies have begun mobilizing emergency humanitarian support, including dispatching food transport trucks, to assist civilians displaced by the sudden surge in local hostilities.
Former leadership figures associated with the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) claimed that allied opposition forces secured control over multiple operational zones within the Afar Region, citing Berhale, Erebti, Abala, Megale, Dalul, and Konoba.
Operating within this volatile boundary zone is the Tigray Peace Force (TPF), which broke away from the TPLF over a year ago in opposition to what it termed the TPLF’s preparation for war and its alignment with Eritrea.
In response to the escalating hostilities, Getachew Reda, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s Advisor on East African Affairs, accused the TPLF of opening a war in the Afar and Amhara regions adjacent to Tigray areas.
The military escalation follows the recent establishment of the “Alliance for Survival,” a political and military opposition coalition comprising seven organizations—including the TPLF—formed with the stated goal of removing the federal government. Security monitors report active involvement from the Afar National Unity Revolutionary Front (UGUGMO), an armed member group of the opposition coalition currently operating within the Abala sector.
__
Join our Telegram Channel : t.me/borkena
Like borkena on Facebook
Join the conversation. Follow us on X (Formerly Twitter) @zborkena to get the latest Ethiopian News updates regularly. Subscribe to YouTube channel To share information or for submission, send e-mail to info@borkena.com
To Support Borkena : https://borkena.com/subscribe-borkena/ – one time support or small monthly options available. Inquire information about it : info@borkena.com
Debre is using the same worksheet of his predecessors from the 1980‘s. He thinks he has found subservient beasts of burdens from among Amharas and Oromos. It looks he has achieved that among Fanos and OLA. They have found to carry him all the way to Addis/Finfinnee just like OPDO and EPDM did in 1991 whose leaders claimed that Oromos and Amharas were singled out and oppressed by the regime then. I will continue on the subject later on.
The title to your story, “TPLF forces seize control of Alula Aba Nega Airport, abduct federal police personnel” is laughable. I thought the airport was already in Mekelle, the regional capital of Tigray, and that both federal police and abductors are Tigrayans from Mekelle.