Arabic version: القتال في تيغراي يثير القلق على طول الحدود السودانية

According to Allafrica, clashes in western Tigray near Ethiopia’s border with Sudan have heightened concern that violence could affect communities and refugee camps across the frontier. Fighting erupted on August 1 in the Shererina area between Tigray People’s Liberation Front forces and Ethiopian federal forces, with heavy artillery and drones used, the report said.

Shelling crossed into Sudan and struck refugee camps, causing an unspecified number of casualties, according to Sudan’s Interior Ministry and Commission for Refugees. The fighting subsided after a day, but civilians and wounded TPLF fighters fled towards Sudan and were receiving treatment in hospitals in eastern Sudan, an Ayin correspondent reported.

On August 10, an Ethiopian army drone struck a secondary school and a nearby riverbed in Merewa, killing three TPLF fighters and injuring seven others, the BBC reported. The clashes followed months of military buildups and worsening tensions between Addis Ababa and Tigrayan leaders, as well as strained relations between Ethiopia and Eritrea.

Sudan’s army and Ethiopia’s government have traded accusations of backing one another’s opponents. Ethiopian authorities say Sudan’s army supports TPLF elements, while Sudanese authorities accuse Addis Ababa of arming and training the Rapid Support Forces on Ethiopian territory. The TPLF has also claimed the RSF took part in the western Tigray fighting, a claim political analyst Chalachew Tadesse said he did not believe.

Analysts cited in the report said a wider conflict is not inevitable, noting that both Sudan and Ethiopia are already dealing with internal wars. But they warned that Eritrea, Red Sea security concerns and the competing interests of regional and Gulf powers could make the situation more dangerous if the border tensions expand.