Tigray refugees flee into Sudan after deadly violence on Ethiopia border

Hundreds of Tigrayans, including wounded fighters, have fled into Sudan following clashes between the Ethiopian federal army and Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) rebels in Shererina. The fighting, which involved heavy artillery and drones and began early Saturday, is seen as a breach of a three-year-old peace deal, raising fears of renewed civil war. The TPLF accuses the Ethiopian army of launching the attack and intensifying its actions, while federal troops and Tigrayan forces have been massed along the border for months, each blaming the other for seeking conflict. The UNHCR has expressed concern about the border tensions, which have caused explosions in refugee camps.

Hundreds of Ethiopians have fled the Tigray region into neighboring Sudan following intense fighting over the weekend. Clashes erupted on Saturday morning in Shererina, near the Sudanese border, involving heavy artillery and drones, according to a member of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF). This confrontation is considered one of the most serious since the end of the civil war in the area four years ago. Fears of a return to full-scale conflict are rising because the 2022 African Union-brokered peace deal has not been fully implemented, and the TPLF has regained control of Tigray. Both the TPLF and federal authorities blamed each other for the clashes, with the TPLF accusing the federal government of launching an "open war" that violates the peace agreement. There are also concerns that the fighting could become a proxy for the Sudanese civil war.