He won the Nobel Peace Prize for peace with Eritrea. Now Ethiopia’s leader faces fears of war
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed faces renewed instability as a fragile alliance between his government and Eritrea collapses, threatening a return to conflict. Opposition groups have formed a new coalition to challenge his administration, complicating the country's post-war recovery.
Why it matters
The potential for renewed war in Ethiopia poses a significant threat to regional stability in the Horn of Africa and could exacerbate humanitarian crises.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019 for making peace with neighboring Eritrea. A year later, their armies joined forces against Tigrayan fighters in northern Ethiopia. Now the alliance has unraveled, raising fears of war between the former allies.
The confrontation threatens a region still recovering from the 2020-2022 war, which caused an estimated 500,000 civilian deaths through violence, famine and collapsed health services, according to researchers at Ghent University in Belgium.
A wider struggle over power, seaports and Nile waters links Ethiopia’s internal conflicts with rivalries stretching from the Red Sea to Egypt. Here is how the disputes connect.
Tigray is Ethiopia’s northernmost region, bordering Eritrea. The Tigray People’s Liberation Front, or TPLF, dominated Ethiopia’s government from 1991 until Abiy took power in 2018.
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