Webinar | The view from Mekelle: Inside Ethiopia's escalating conflict

Fighting between Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and Ethiopian government forces has intensified, with the Tigray Defense Forces seizing control of the airports in Mekelle, Aksum, and Shire on 23 September. The intensified clashes mark a significant escalation in a conflict that began re-emerging in August and have raised growing concerns over the future of the peace agreement that ended the 2020–2022 Tigray war.

A webinar was held on 30 September at 14:00 UK time (15:00 CET / 16:00 Ethiopia) for a conversation with Dr. Jalale Getachew Birru, Senior Analyst for East Africa at ACLED, moderated by Prof. Clionadh Raleigh, ACLED’s CEO. The discussion examined the latest developments on the ground in Tigray, what has driven the return to fighting, and how the situation has changed since the beginning of 2026. It also examined the TPLF’s strategy, renewed mobilization in Tigray, and the significance of the latest military advances.

The conversation explored what could happen next: whether the fighting could spread further, what the latest developments mean for relations between Tigray and the federal government, and whether Ethiopia risks being drawn back into a wider war.