An armed group aligned with the Ethiopian government said on Monday, 28 September 2026, that the federal army and allied forces had taken control of the strategic town of Alamata in southern Tigray region, days after opposition forces launched an attack on government positions in the north of the country. The Tigray Peace Force said government forces had entered Alamata, located about 120 kilometres south of Mekelle, the regional capital.
The group posted a video on its Facebook page showing soldiers walking through the town’s streets and raising Ethiopian flags. Two diplomatic sources said government-aligned forces had taken control of Alamata, while a third diplomatic source said the forces had entered the town but that it was unclear how firmly they controlled it.
Alamata: a strategic supply hub in Tigray
The Ethiopian army and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front did not immediately issue a position on reports about the situation on the ground inside the town. Alamata is an important centre for supplying forces with food and fuel, and lies near Tigray’s southern border with the Amhara region.
Federal forces and Tigrayan forces exchanged control of the town several times during the war fought between 2020 and 2022. The announcement of control over Alamata came after Tigrayan forces began an offensive on 23 September 2026 targeting federal government positions in the neighbouring Afar and Amhara regions.
Tigray attacks reopen the Afar and Amhara fronts
An adviser to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said the Tigray People’s Liberation Front had launched a broad attack on government positions, while Tigray authorities said their forces were fighting defensive battles in response to federal attacks. During the offensive, Tigrayan forces took control of the airports in Mekelle, Axum and Shire, leading to the suspension of flights to and from the region.
Clashes also took place in parts of Afar, including the towns of Abala and Eribti, and in the Amhara region, where residents reported federal forces using heavy weapons from a base in the town of Lalibela. The escalation was preceded by the announcement that seven opposition groups had formed the Ethiopian Peoples’ Survival Forces Alliance, which said it sought to remove Abiy Ahmed’s government.
Opposition alliance announces political and military cooperation
The alliance includes the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, the Fano Amhara National Movement, the Oromo Liberation Army and four other groups. The front’s spokesman, Mikhael Asgedom, said the group’s cooperation with the other alliance members was political and military, and that joint operations could become necessary to achieve the alliance’s goal. He added that the peace agreement signed in 2022 was no longer valid, in his words.
In response, Britain called in a statement issued on 24 September for all parties to halt the escalation and return to dialogue mediated by the African Union. The statement condemned attacks by Tigrayan forces in Afar and southern Tigray and their seizure of the region’s airports, and called for civilians to be protected and humanitarian aid and workers to have safe access.
The renewed fighting threatens to undermine the Pretoria Agreement signed in November 2022, which ended a two-year war between the federal government and Tigrayan forces. The agreement halted large-scale military operations, but tensions returned in the following months amid mutual accusations of violating its provisions.
According to African Union estimates, the previous war claimed the lives of about 600,000 people. Around one million people remain displaced, while the spread of fighting to Afar and Amhara has raised fears that the conflict could widen and affect supply routes and essential services in northern Ethiopia.
