Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has said his country does not want war, even as regional Tigray authorities say federal forces are massing around the northern region, raising fears of renewed conflict.
Tigray emerged in 2022 from a two-year war that saw federal forces, backed by militias and the Eritrean army, clash with rebels from the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).
The TPLF dominated Ethiopian politics for some 30 years before Abiy, a non-Tigrayan, took power in 2018, with the group then marginalised and banned.
At least 600,000 people were killed in the conflict, according to estimates from the African Union.