Ten days after clashes between the Ethiopian federal army and Tigrayan forces that have revived the specter of war in Tigray, residents of the region are also worried about renewed tensions between Addis Ababa and Asmara. On Saturday, February 7, the Ethiopian foreign minister demanded that Eritrea withdraw its troops from Ethiopian territory.
Source: RFI
[Note: I share this for information. I am not yet convinced that war is about to erupt. I could, of course, be wrong.]
Published on:09/02/2026 – 01:103 min
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Amid long-standing and intense tensions between the two countries, Ethiopia called on Eritrea to immediately withdraw its troops from its territory on Saturday, February 7. In an official letter sent to Asmara, Ethiopian Foreign Minister Gedion Tomotheos stated that ” with the incursion of Eritrean forces into Ethiopia and their recent maneuvers with rebel groups, the Eritrean government has chosen the path of escalation .” For Addis Ababa, these acts are not mere provocations but ” outright aggression ,” he continued, before calling on Eritrea to ” break this cycle of violence and mistrust through dialogue and diplomacy .”
Eritrean military forces have been present in the Tigray and Amhara regions since the 2020 war. Their withdrawal was planned under the agreement signed in 2022, but this has not been implemented.
This diplomatic offensive by Ethiopia follows statements made by its Prime Minister on Tuesday, February 3. For the first time, Abiy Ahmed accused the Eritrean army of having committed massacres during the conflict in Tigray – accusations refuted by the Eritrean authorities, who call them “ lies ”.
” Most people say the war will start again .”
In any case, this new escalation between the two countries plunges the inhabitants of Tigray into anguish, where the trauma of the war that ended in 2022 is still very present, especially as it comes only ten days after clashes between the federal army and Tigrayan forces .
In Shire, for example, a town in central Tigray visited by Marlène Panara , our correspondent in Ethiopia, the situation is terrifying Hagos, a bus company manager. ” People are in shock; they’re still traumatized by the war , ” he says, before explaining that ” many people have left or tried to leave Tigray in recent days because they’re afraid of being trapped here. They don’t want to hear about another state of siege. “
Twenty-two-year-old Biruk sees this same anxiety growing on social media, where posts about the risk of a new war are going viral. ” Right now, the situation in Tigray is very tense. We hear a lot of things. But all we want is peace ,” he says from behind the counter of his shop.
In one of the displaced persons camps in Shire, anxiety is also on everyone’s mind. ” Most people say the war will start again. Some say no, but I think it will. I’m scared and I can’t do anything ! ” worries Million Mehari, a 15-year-old whose life was turned upside down by the last conflict: having been separated from her family during the war in Tigray, they would have nowhere to go in the event of another conflict.
Martin Plaut 