Ethiopia-Tigray clashes end near Sudan border

Fighting between the Ethiopian army and Tigray rebels has ended after clashes near Ethiopia's border with Sudan, local and security sources told AFP on Sunday.

A member of the Tigray People's Liberation Front, speaking anonymously, said there was a “de-escalation” and gave no casualty figures. The TPLF member said clashes involving heavy artillery and drones broke out in Shererina at about 6:00 am on Saturday and ended at about 5:00 pm.

A security source also told AFP the fighting had stopped.

The TPLF accused federal authorities on Saturday of intensifying destructive actions and said there had been a “large-scale infantry offensive”. Federal authorities did not immediately respond.

AFP said it had not independently verified the TPLF claims or identified which forces were on the ground in Shererina.

Fighting has been taking place in the contested area of western Tigray, which is controlled by nationalists from the neighbouring Amhara region. Federal troops and Tigrayan forces have been massed for several months along the border of northern Tigray, with both sides accusing the other of wanting to trigger a new conflict.

Fears of renewed war have grown less than four years after the end of a conflict between the two sides. That conflict left at least 600,000 people dead, according to an African Union estimate.