Tigray, Ethiopia \u2013<\/strong> Saba Gedion was 17 when the peace deal that ended the conflict in her homeland of Tigray in northern Ethiopia was signed in 2022.<\/p>\n She hoped then that fighting would be a thing of the past, but the last few months have convinced her that strife is once again looming, and she feels paralysed with despair.<\/p>\n list of 3 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n \u201cMany people are leaving the region in droves,\u201d Gedion told Al Jazeera as she sat under the shade of a tree, selling coffee to the occasional customer in an area frequented by internally displaced people (IDPs) in Tigray\u2019s capital, Mekelle.<\/p>\n Gedion \u2013 herself a displaced person \u2013 is from the town of Humera, a now-disputed area with the Amhara region that witnessed heavy clashes during the 2020-2022 war between Ethiopia\u2019s federal government and the Tigray People\u2019s Liberation Front (TPLF).<\/p>\n The now-21-year-old remembers the horrors she witnessed. Some of her family were killed, while others were abducted into neighbouring Eritrea, she says. She has not heard from them since.<\/p>\n Though she made it out alive, her life was turned upside-down when she was forced to flee to Mekelle for safety.<\/p>\n Years later, Gedion sees similar patterns as people leave Tigray \u2013 most headed to the neighbouring Afar region \u2013 once again looking for the safety that has become elusive at home.<\/p>\n \u201cRecurring conflict and civil war have made us zombies rather than citizens,\u201d she told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n In recent weeks, enmity between Ethiopia and Eritrea has escalated amid separate accusations by both sides.<\/p>\n Speaking to Ethiopia\u2019s parliament in early February, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed addressed his landlocked country\u2019s access to the sea<\/a>, saying \u201cthe Red Sea and Ethiopia cannot remain separated forever\u201d. This has led to accusations by Eritrea that Addis Ababa is seeking to invade its country and trying to reclaim the Red Sea Assab seaport, which it lost in 1993 with the independence of Eritrea.<\/p>\n Ethiopia, meanwhile, has accused Eritrean troops of occupying its territory along parts of their shared border, and called for the immediate withdrawal of soldiers from the towns of Sheraro and Gulomakada, among others. Addis Ababa also accuses Eritrea of arming rebels in the vast Horn of Africa country.<\/p>\n Observers say the heightening tensions point to an impending war between the two countries \u2013 one that could once again involve Tigray.<\/p>\n In Tigray\u2019s capital, a once-booming city of tourism and business, most streets are quiet.<\/p>\n The young people who previously frequented cafes are now often seen applying for visas and speaking with smugglers in the hope of leaving Tigray.<\/p>\n Helen Gessese, 36, lives in a makeshift IDP camp on the outskirts of Mekelle. She worries about what will become of the already struggling region should another conflict erupt.<\/p>\n Gessese is an ethnic Irob, a persecuted Catholic minority group from the border town of Dewhan in the northeastern part of Tigray.<\/p>\n During the Tigray war, several of her family members were kidnapped, she said, as Eritrean troops expanded their hold of the area.<\/p>\n As the war intensified, she fled to Mekelle, about 150km away, looking for safety. Her elderly parents were too frail to join her on foot, so she was forced to leave them behind. Like Gedion, she has not heard from them or the rest of her family since 2022.<\/p>\n \u201cMy life has been held back, not knowing if my elderly parents are still alive,\u201d she told Al Jazeera, the stress of the last few years making her seem much older than she is.<\/p>\n In Mekelle, it is not uncommon to meet people who are anguished or frustrated \u2013 some by the renewed tensions, and many by the trauma of the previous conflict.<\/p>\n More than 80 percent of hospitals were left in ruins in Tigray during the war, according to humanitarian organisations, while sexual violence that defined the two-year conflict is still a recurring issue. Hundreds of thousands of young people are still out of school, foreign investment that created jobs in the past has in large part evaporated, and the economy remains crippled after years of war.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, nearly four years later, the federal government\u2019s decision to withhold foreign funds meant for the region is deepening a humanitarian crisis. The bulk of the public service in the region, for instance, has not been paid for months.<\/p>\n The Ethiopia-Eritrea relationship has also deteriorated in recent years.<\/p>\n The longstanding foes had waged war against each other between 1998 and 2000, but in 2018, they signed a peace deal. They then became allies during the 2020-2022 civil war in Tigray against common enemy, the TPLF.<\/p>\n But the relationship between Ethiopia and Eritrea has been in sharp decline since the signing of the 2022 accord that ended the Tigray war \u2013 an agreement that Asmara was not party to.<\/p>\n Earlier this month, Ethiopia\u2019s Minister of Foreign Affairs Gedion Timothewos wrote an open letter acknowledging the presence of Eritrean troops loitering on the Ethiopian side of the border and calling for them to leave.<\/p>\n \u201cThe incursion of Eritrean troops \u2026\u201d he wrote, \u201cis not just provocations but acts of outright aggression.\u201d<\/p>\n Asmara continues to deny the presence of its troops on the Ethiopian side, and Eritrean Minister of Information Yemane Gebremeskel has called such accusations \u201can agenda of war against Eritrea\u201d.<\/p>\n As a sign of the worsening of the relationship between the two neighbours, Ethiopia\u2019s Abiy, in his address to lawmakers early in February, also accused Eritrean troops of committing atrocities during the Tigray war. The accusation was a first from the prime minister, following repeated denials by his government about reported mass killings, looting and the destruction of factories by Eritrean troops during the Tigray conflict.<\/p>\nRecommended Stories <\/h2>\n
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Unhealed scars of war<\/h2>\n
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\u2018Acts of outright aggression\u2019<\/h2>\n
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