NEW YORK, 10 October 2026 — UN Secretary-General António Guterres has called for an immediate end to renewed fighting in northern Ethiopia, saying he is “gravely concerned” by hostilities in the Tigray, Afar and Amhara regions and further concerned by reports that Eritrean forces are present in the country.
In a statement issued on Friday night in New York by his spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric, Guterres urged all parties to cease hostilities and called on the signatories of the 2022 Pretoria Agreement, which ended the civil war in Tigray, to return to dialogue under its framework. He warned against the risk of an escalation that would further undermine the stability of the wider region.
The Secretary-General reminded all States in the region of their obligation under the UN Charter to “refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any State”, and of the principle of non-interference in internal affairs. He called on countries with influence over the parties to support de-escalation, to avoid any action that could fuel the conflict, and said he stands ready to offer his good offices.
The humanitarian picture is deteriorating. According to UN News, continued hostilities are displacing people across central, north-western and eastern Tigray, although verified figures are not yet available. UN relief chief Tom Fletcher has called for safe and rapid access for aid workers, and the UN says it is ready to resume operations in the northern regions as soon as conditions allow. In Amhara, a government-led effort to help displaced people return home from the town of Kobo has been suspended after security worsened.
The diplomatic temperature has risen sharply. In a letter to the Security Council, Ethiopia’s foreign minister accused Eritrea of an “all-out invasion” of Tigray, saying Eritrean troops had advanced up to 60 kilometres into the region, and invoked Ethiopia’s right to self-defence. Eritrea rejected the accusation and, in its own letter on Saturday, asked the Council to condemn what it called Ethiopia’s “declaration of war” and take “deterrent measures”, Al Jazeera reported.
Fighting between Ethiopian government forces and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) broke out about two weeks ago, with each side accusing the other of breaching the 2022 deal. Media reports say the army has since taken control of the regional capital, Mekelle, and that Ethiopian drone strikes hit Eritrean forces in the town of Adigrat; the UN noted there were no verified reports of casualties from those strikes.
References
- United Nations in Ethiopia: Statement attributable to the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General on Ethiopia, 9 October 2026
- UN News: UN chief ‘gravely concerned’ by renewed fighting in northern Ethiopia, 10 October 2026
- Al Jazeera: Eritrea urges UN to intervene in standoff with Ethiopia, 10 October 2026
Featured image: Highlands in Ethiopia’s Tigray region (illustrative file photo, 2013; not an image of the current fighting). Photo by Rod Waddington from Kergunyah, Australia / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0.