France’s foreign ministry on Thursday warned its citizens to avoid travelling to Tigray in northern Ethiopia following clashes between factions of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) in the capital Mekele and the second city Adigrat.
“In view of the ongoing internal clashes in Tigray, particularly in Adigrat and Mekele, travel throughout the Tigray region is now formally inadvisable,” said the ministry on its website.
“French nationals passing through are asked to leave Tigray as soon as possible,” the advice added.
Between November 2020 and November 2022, the region was a conflict zone between federal forces, supported by local militias and the Eritrean army as well as Tigrayan rebels.
The fighting left at least 600,000 people dead in Tigray, according to the African Union before a peace agreement was signed in Pretoria in South Africa. In the deal, the two parties agreed that an interim administration would be established to rule Tigray until elections are held.
However, due to delays in implementing the agreement, there have been sharp divisions within the TPLF. Getachew Reda, who was placed in charge of an interim administration by Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Ahmed Abiy, is in a battle for control with Debretsion Gebremichael.
On Tuesday, Getachew ordered the suspension of three generals of the Tigray Defence Forces, accusing the rival faction of trying to take over the whole of Tigray in an interview with Tigrai Mass Media Agency.
Fear
There is growing fear that Ethiopia’s neighbour and historic rival, Eritrea, may take advantage of the situation to launch an invasion.
“We have been close to a new conflict between Eritrea and Ethiopia for the past two years,” Kjetil Tronvoll, Oslo University professor specialising in the region, told the French news agency AFP.
“We just do not know what will be the triggering factor.”
He said that the dissatisfactiIon of the Eritrean president Isaias Afwerki’s with the 2022 peace agreement, Abiy’s ambitions for a port on the Red Sea, and geopolitical interest from the Middle East have all played into the deteriorating tensions.
“That has left the two countries inching closer to a new war,” he added. “The situation in Tigray can be the triggering factor.”
Abiy was lauded, including winning the Nobel Peace Prize, for finally reaching a peace agreement with Eritrea when he came to power in 2018.
It briefly allowed borders to reopen to the isolated country, which Afeworki has ruled virtually unchallenged since 1993.
However, relations have strained since the end of the Tigray war in 2022. “A war between Ethiopia and Eritrea could break out at any moment,” said General Tsadkan Gebretensae, senior strategist for the Tigray forces in Getachew’s administration, in remarks published earlier this week.
