00:00Ethiopia's Tigray forces have seized control of several airports as fighting spread into the
00:06neighboring Afar region. Sources indicate that clashes broke out late Tuesday in the towns of
00:12Abala and Erebti, with the Tigrayan forces reportedly taking control of several locations.
00:17The Tigray regional government says it was responding to what it called intensive bombardments
00:22by federal forces, including air strikes, drones and artillery. Tigrayan forces have also taken
00:29control of airports in Mekele and Shire and reportedly assume. Ethiopian Airlines has
00:35suspended flight to all the three cities. The new violence is raising fears of a return to the
00:41devastating civil war that ended with a peace deal in 2022. That conflict killed an estimated 600,000
00:48people, according to African Union figures, while around one million people remained displaced.
00:54On Sunday, the TPLF announced it had joined a new alliance of anti-government armed groups
01:00from across Ethiopia, which faces multiple insurgencies, including in its own most populous
01:06regions, Oromia and Amhara. The TPLF ruled the whole of Ethiopia from 1991 to 2018,
01:13before being sidelined with the rise of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, eventually triggering the civil war.
