The Levant Files

  Just four years after one of Africa’s bloodiest wars was brought to a halt, guns are firing again in northern Ethiopia. The danger is no longer confined to Tigray: an anti-government alliance, tensions with Eritrea and the struggle for access to the Red Sea could turn another Ethiopian war into a crisis stretching towards the Middle East. By the Editorial Team of TLF For a region already moving from one crisis to the next, another warning light has begun flashing. Ethiopia may be sliding back towards war. The peace that stopped the devastating conflict in Tigray in 2022 was always fragile. Now, after months of political fractures, accusations and military manoeuvring, fighting has returned — and this time the confrontation is developing against an even more dangerous regional backdrop. On Wednesday, September 23, Tigrayan forces seized three airports as clashes with federal troops were reported at several locations, according to Reuters. Tigray's authorities said their forces had...

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, often referred to as the Levant and its surrounding areas, is facing a deepening crisis of instability along its southern and western flanks. A series of escalating conflicts, from the Sahel to the Horn of Africa, are creating a vast arc of volatility that threatens regional security and humanitarian stability. Recent developments in Ethiopia, Mali, and Sudan paint a grim picture of renewed fighting, the rise of militant groups, and a catastrophic displacement crisis. Ethiopia: The Pretoria Peace Accord Under Threat In the Horn of Africa, the fragile peace brokered in November 2022 between the Ethiopian federal government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) is showing dangerous signs of collapse. Authorities in Ethiopia’s Afar region have accused TPLF fighters of crossing into their territory, seizing several villages, and launching mortar attacks on civilians. This aggressive move is being condemned by Afar officials as an ...