Al Jazeera and Arab News, the latter quoting AFP, reported that seven Ethiopian armed groups said on Sunday they had formed an alliance against the federal government. The named line-ups overlap on Tigray and Fano forces and then diverge. Addis Ababa had not answered AFP when Arab News filed.
Al Jazeera said the groups announced on Sunday the Ethiopian Peoples' Forces Alliance for Survival. A source close to Fano told the outlet talks had run about a year. The announcement came weeks after serious clashes in Tigray, among the sharpest breaches yet of the 2022 peace deal. Fighting has gripped parts of Oromia since 2018 and Amhara since 2023, the report said.[1]
Arab News, dated 20 September from Addis Ababa, quoted AFP. Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) vice president Amanuel Assefa said the groups had formed an alliance to remove the regime and facilitate a transitional government. Federal authorities had not yet answered AFP's request for comment. The African Union, the piece said, has reported both the government and the TPLF massing troops on the northern state's border, feeding fears of a return to a war that killed some 600,000.[2]
Al Jazeera listed the Amhara Fano National Movement, the TPLF, the ONLF, Ugugumo, the Benishangul Peoples' Liberation Movement and the Gumuz Peoples' Democratic Movement among the seven. Arab News, quoting AFP, named Tigrayan forces, Amhara Fano militias, the Oromo Liberation Army and four others. Those are not the same seven names. Both enumerations stay. Neither list is discarded.[1], [2]
