Zegabi

A humanitarian source cited by AFP and reported by Euronews and Addis Standard estimated that at least 150,000 people have been displaced in Ethiopia’s Afar region as fighting between Tigrayan forces and the Ethiopian federal government intensified over the weekend of September 27 to 28, 2026, while the same source cautioned that precise displacement numbers were not available.

According to that reporting, the Afar town of Erebti near the Tigray border fell to Tigrayan forces on Sunday after heavy artillery fire, and the fighters were then advancing toward Afdeera, about 100 kilometres farther east. Euronews said the push aims at the Djibouti corridor that carries almost all of Ethiopia’s international trade, including fuel, and that control along that line could give the TPLF leverage over Abiy Ahmed’s Regime if the Semera-Djibouti route came under threat. ACLED analyst Dr Jalale Getachew Birru, quoted by Euronews, said the federal government had so far treated the renewed fighting as manageable while the trade corridor remained open, but she warned that a serious threat to the Semera-Djibouti route could change that calculation.

The same weekend reporting said a drone strike hit the headquarters of Tigrai TV in Mekelle on Sunday. A journalist at the station told AFP that staff fled after a loud explosion, and images seen by the agency showed a damaged and blackened facade with windows blown out. Another journalist said the station, which has about 400 employees, was off the air after the attack, and no casualties had been reported at the time of the reports. The authorities in Addis Ababa had announced on September 21 that Tigrai TV was suspended indefinitely and that other outlets were barred from carrying its reports.

Ethiopian Army Chief Field Marshal Birhanu Jula, speaking on the army’s YouTube channel and cited by Euronews, accused Egypt, Eritrea, and Sudan of backing armed groups fighting federal forces in the north. Sudan’s military rejected the accusations as baseless and said it remained committed to good-neighbourly relations. The TPLF has described its campaign as a defensive war and has moved forces into Afar and Amhara while joining the Ethiopian Peoples’ Forces Alliance for Survival with Amhara Fano National Movement fighters and other armed groups that say they want to remove Abiy Ahmed’s government. United Nations and African Union officials have called for restraint and for steps that protect civilians as the fronts widen.