Fighting broke out on Saturday, August 1st, 2026, in western Tigray near Sheraro, close to the Sudanese border, marking one of the most serious threats to the fragile Pretoria Agreement of November 2022. The regional government of Tigray, in a statement from Mekelle, said federal forces launched the assault at dawn, advancing from Sheraro.

Abraham Belay, a government minister who led Tigray’s transitional government during the war, confirmed the clashes but accused the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) chairman Debretsion Gebremichael’s forces of initiating the fighting. He called for dialogue, stating, “Enough war! Let us resolve our differences through dialogue.”

Tigrayan authorities accused Ethiopia’s ruling Prosperity Party of imposing a prolonged blockade and conducting a drone campaign against the region, which they say has escalated into full-scale war. The fighting follows months of deteriorating relations between Addis Ababa and the TPLF, the party that ruled Ethiopia for nearly three decades before Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed took office in 2018.

The Pretoria Agreement ended a war that began two years earlier and resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths, but it left unresolved disputes over disarmament and the TPLF’s legal status. The recent clashes represent a significant escalation in the ongoing confrontation.

Sources