Can Ethiopia’s seven-group rebel alliance challenge Abiy Ahmed?

The alliance brings together movements with different enemies, claims and histories as tensions with Abiy rise.

x whatsapp-stroke copylink google Add Al Jazeera on Google info Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) fighters attend an orientation session in western Oromia, Ethiopia, on June 2, 2025 [File: AP] By Charles Rosser Published On 23 Sep 2026 23 Sep 2026 Two days after seven Ethiopian armed groups announced the formation of the Ethiopian Peoples’ Forces Alliance for Survival and pledged to remove Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, a senior official of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) was asked whether the statement amounted to a declaration of war.

He hesitated, then answered with a question of his own.

He was speaking to Kjetil Tronvoll, professor of peace and conflict studies at Oslo New University College, who told Al Jazeera that the answer captured what the new rebel alliance had changed.