After two years of uneasy peace, Ethiopia looks to be sliding back towards full scale war, with both sides accusing each other of launching offensives and civilians once again stuck in the middle.

Reports verified by cbinews.tv show a fast moving escalation. Getachew Reda, a cabinet minister and adviser to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, says Tigrayan fighters have taken control of federally run airports in Tigray and launched offensives into neighbouring Afar and Amhara.

Earlier, Tigrayan authorities said their forces had been forced into what they called a defensive war after days of drone strikes.

It is a worrying turnaround. Ethiopian Airlines has now cancelled all flights to Tigray after residents in Mekelle told newsmen that local forces took over the city airport from national police early on Wednesday.

He said the biggest problem is cash. For seven or eight months the government has denied budgets to civil servants and banks are running out of money. People have been relying on mobile banking, but with fears that communications could be cut, he said people will be in grave danger because there is almost no cash.

In the south, the mayor of Alamata, Mogos Shiferaw, said a strike on Tuesday killed at least 14 people and injured 22. He said drones and a fighter jet carried out more than 21 strikes, hitting two secondary schools that he said were empty because term has not yet started.

This matters far beyond Tigray. The last war was one of the deadliest this century. The African Union mediator estimated around 600,000 people died as fighting pushed the region to the edge of famine.

A return to war would threaten stability across the Horn of Africa, disrupt aid and trade, and once again put millions at risk of hunger and displacement. As cbinews.tv has tracked, public services and critical infrastructure are already being disrupted.

The two year war ended in 2022 with the Pretoria Agreement, an AU brokered deal. But both sides have since accused each other of violating it. Implementation of key provisions like disarmament and power sharing has been slow and both have faced criticism.

In May, Tigray did not take part in general elections due to security concerns and restored its prewar administration, scrapping an interim one appointed by Abiy. Getachew Reda himself used to lead that interim administration before falling out with the TPLF in 2025 and joining the federal government.

On Sunday, September 20, the TPLF announced an alliance with six other armed groups to remove the government in Addis Ababa. On Tuesday, the US State Department also condemned a separate drone strike it said hit a convoy of Catholic vehicles carrying food aid.

The chair of the African Union Commission, Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, has called for immediate deescalation and a return to talks. The US ambassador to Ethiopia has condemned the TPLF offensive as an unwinnable fight.

At the UN General Assembly, President Taye Astike Selassie said Ethiopia had shown immense restraint despite interference in its internal affairs by adversarial elements.

For now, the Pretoria deal looks fragile. If talks do not resume quickly, Ethiopia could be heading back into a conflict it only just came out of.

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