A senior official of Ethiopia’s Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) has told AFP that seven armed groups have formed an alliance opposing the federal government.

TPLF vice president Amanuel Assefa said the coalition aims to remove the current government and help establish a transitional administration. He said the groups had discussed cooperation for more than a year.

“We just formed an alliance, we are collaborating with several groups and our objectives are to remove the regime and facilitating a transitional government,” Assefa told AFP.

The reported participants include Tigrayan forces, Amhara nationalist Fano militias and the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA), along with four other groups that were not identified in the information available. Assefa said Fano leader Zemene Kasse would chair the alliance.

Uncertainty over military coordination

The reported formation comes amid heightened concern over security in Ethiopia. The African Union has reported that government and TPLF forces have massed troops along the border of the country’s northern state in recent months.

That buildup has raised fears of a return to the war that killed some 600,000 people, according to the report. The TPLF and federal forces were central parties to the conflict in Tigray, while the wider country continues to face armed violence in Oromia and Amhara.

Kjetil Tronvoll, a regional specialist at Oslo New University College in Norway, questioned whether the newly reported alliance could maintain a prolonged conflict against federal forces. He described the effort as “a sacrificial war for the rebels” and said, “I am not sure they will be able to sustain such a war.”

Tronvoll said coordination could nevertheless create additional pressure on the government. “If they coordinate as a military command, it may make a difference, it is a potential four to five fronts that the government will have to deal with, it might be a challenge,” he said.

Groups with a history of conflict

The reported members have previously been on opposing sides of Ethiopia’s conflicts. Fano, described as traditional self-defence militias among the Amhara, fought alongside federal forces during the Tigray war. The group took up arms against the government in April 2023 after federal authorities moved to disarm the militias.

Federal forces have also fought the OLA in central Oromia since 2018. The Ethiopian government has designated the OLA a terrorist organisation.

Western Tigray remains contested between Amhara and Tigray. The area has been administered by Amhara nationalists since the end of the war, according to the report.

The groups involved in the reported alliance have clashed in the past and hold different ideologies and territorial positions. Those divisions raise questions about whether they can operate under a unified command.

Assefa said the members intended to resolve their differences through dialogue. “We will sit at the table later to solve our problems peacefully,” he said.

Ethiopia’s federal authorities had not responded to AFP’s request for comment on the reported alliance. The formation and composition of the coalition were presented through Assefa’s statement, with no independent confirmation provided in the report.