In a country still bearing the wounds of one of this century's deadliest civil wars, seven Ethiopian armed groups — former enemies among them — have set aside their rivalries to form a unified front against Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, the man who once promised his nation a democratic dawn. The Ethiopian Peoples' Forces Alliance for Survival, announced on Sunday, draws together factions from Tigray, Oromia, Amhara, and beyond, united by a shared conviction that the government poses an existential threat to each of them. It is a sobering reminder that in politics, as in nature, common danger can
Seven Ethiopian armed groups form alliance to challenge PM Abiy's government
The 2020-2022 Tigray war killed hundreds of thousands; ongoing fighting has displaced populations across multiple regions.
They all face a survival threat from the government
Mark
So these seven groups—they've actually fought each other before, right? How do you get former enemies to work together?
Mimi
The key is that they've all experienced the same thing from Abiy's government. They see a common threat. The Tigray forces and Amhara Fano fought on opposite sides in the 2020-2022 war, but now they're saying the government is the real problem.
Luke
But we should be careful here. The statement says they want an "inclusive transitional government," but there's no detail on what that actually looks like. And the territorial disputes—Western Tigray—those aren't solved by forming an alliance. They're still unresolved.
Mark
When did the talks actually start?
Mimi
About a year ago, according to sources close to Fano. The military leader of the OLA confirmed they'd met several times. A Fano leader hinted at it publicly in August.
Luke
Right, but we don't have direct quotes from most of these groups. We have a joint statement and some secondhand reporting. The government hasn't said anything yet. We're seeing one side of this.
Mark
What about the 2022 peace deal? Is it actually dead?
Mimi
The Tigray People's Liberation Front said in July that it was "effectively dead." There were clashes in Tigray recently that violated it. But the agreement itself—the document—still exists. What's dead is the commitment to it.
Luke
And that's important to note: the TPLF made that declaration unilaterally. We don't know if all seven groups in this new alliance agree with that assessment, or if they're just moving forward anyway.
Mark
How many people are we talking about in terms of actual fighters?
Mimi
The source material doesn't give us troop numbers. We know the Tigray war killed hundreds of thousands, and there's been ongoing fighting in Oromia and Amhara, but we don't have a count of how many combatants are in this alliance.
Luke
That's a real gap. You can't assess the military threat without knowing the scale. And we also don't know if these groups can actually coordinate in the field, or if this is mostly a political statement.
The Pulse
- Seven armed groups that have fought one another for years announced a formal military and political alliance on Sunday, a convergence that dramatically raises the stakes of Ethiopia's already multi-front conflicts.
- The alliance includes the TPLF, the OLA, and the Amhara Fano — factions with recent combat history against each other — signaling that the threat they perceive from Abiy Ahmed's government now outweighs their mutual grievances.
- Recent clashes in Tigray have effectively shattered the 2022 Pretoria peace deal, while fighting in Oromia has continued since 2018 and in Amhara since 2023, meaning coordinated opposition could ignite an already volatile landscape.
- The alliance is calling for Abiy's removal, a transitional government, and national dialogue — but the government has offered no public response, leaving the political temperature to rise without any visible attempt at de-escalation.
- With unresolved disputes over Western Tigray, stalled disarmament, and the TPLF having declared the peace agreement 'effectively dead' in July, the fragile architecture meant to hold Ethiopia together is now under its most severe test since the war ended.
In a country still bearing the wounds of one of this century's deadliest civil wars, seven Ethiopian armed groups — former enemies among them — have set aside their rivalries to form a unified front against Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, the man who once promised his nation a democratic dawn. The Ethiopian Peoples' Forces Alliance for Survival, announced on Sunday, draws together factions from Tigray, Oromia, Amhara, and beyond, united by a shared conviction that the government poses an existential threat to each of them. It is a sobering reminder that in politics, as in nature, common danger can dissolve even the deepest enmities — and that peace agreements, however solemnly signed, are only as durable as the trust that sustains them.
On Sunday, seven Ethiopian armed groups announced they were burying their rivalries to form a single alliance aimed at overthrowing Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. The Ethiopian Peoples' Forces Alliance for Survival unites the Tigray People's Liberation Front, the Oromo Liberation Army, and the Amhara Fano National Movement — factions that have, in some cases, fought each other in recent years — alongside four smaller regional movements. Their joint statement accuses Abiy's government of dictatorial rule and pushing Ethiopia toward collapse, and calls for a transitional government that would end the wars and open space for national dialogue.
The announcement lands at a precarious moment. The 2022 Pretoria peace agreement, which ended a war that killed hundreds of thousands between 2020 and 2022, is under severe strain. The TPLF declared it 'effectively dead' in July, and recent clashes in Tigray represent some of its most serious violations. Fighting in Oromia has never stopped since 2018, and the Amhara region has been in conflict since 2023. Leaders of the alliance groups spent roughly a year in negotiations before Sunday's announcement, meeting multiple times and signaling their intentions in scattered public remarks before the formal declaration.
Abiy came to power in 2018 on a wave of reformist promise — releasing prisoners, legalizing opposition parties, opening the press. Critics and human rights organizations say those gains have since been systematically reversed. The alliance's formation reflects a cold strategic logic: groups with little history of cooperation, and in some cases fresh grievances against one another, have concluded that they face a greater common threat in the government itself. Critical questions from the Pretoria deal remain unresolved — disarmament, the TPLF's legal status, and the territorial dispute over Western Tigray — and with fighting already active across multiple regions, the possibility of coordinated opposition is reshaping the conflict's scale in ways that few peace frameworks were designed to absorb.
Seven armed groups that have spent years fighting each other announced on Sunday that they are joining forces to overthrow Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's government. The alliance, called the Ethiopian Peoples' Forces Alliance for Survival, brings together former adversaries across three of Ethiopia's most conflict-torn regions: the Tigray People's Liberation Front, which once ruled the country for nearly three decades; the Oromo Liberation Army, which has battled federal forces in Oromia since 2018; and the Amhara Fano National Movement, a coalition of militias that has fought in the Amhara region since 2023. Four smaller groups—the Ogaden National Liberation Front, the Afar Revolutionary Democratic Unity Front, the Benishangul Peoples' Liberation Movement, and the Gumuz Peoples' Democratic Movement—complete the alliance.
The announcement arrives at a moment of acute fragility. Recent clashes in Tigray represent some of the most serious violations yet of a peace agreement signed in South Africa in 2022, one that was meant to end the devastating war between the federal government and Tigray's forces. That war, which lasted from 2020 to 2022, killed hundreds of thousands of people. The new alliance statement accuses Abiy's government of imposing dictatorial rule and pushing the country toward collapse. The groups say they intend to establish a transitional government that would end the wars, protect rights, and create space for national dialogue.
Abiy came to power in 2018on a platform of democratic opening. He released political prisoners, freed journalists and activists, and lifted bans on opposition parties. But human rights groups and his political opponents say those early reforms have been systematically reversed. The alliance's formation reflects a calculation among groups that have little history of cooperation—and in some cases, recent combat history—that they face a common threat from the government itself.
Leaders of these groups have been in talks for roughly a year, according to a source close to the Fano movement. The military leader of the Oromo Liberation Army told a local broadcaster earlier this month that the groups had met multiple times before settling on the final announcement. Zemene Kassie, a Fano leader, first publicly signaled that deals were being struck in an August interview with a Swiss newspaper. The government has not publicly responded to Sunday's announcement.
The 2022 peace deal, signed in Pretoria, ended the Tigray war but left critical questions unresolved: how armed groups would disarm, what legal status the Tigray People's Liberation Front would hold, and how to settle territorial disputes. Amhara and Tigray both claim Western Tigray, which Amhara administrators have controlled since the war ended. In mid-July, the Tigray People's Liberation Front declared the Pretoria agreement "effectively dead." An Ethiopian academic told Al Jazeera that the allied groups believe they all face an existential threat from the government and have agreed to dialogue and alliance formation "in the best interests of the public." The announcement signals that the fragile peace architecture holding Ethiopia together is under severe strain, with fighting already active across multiple regions and the possibility of coordinated opposition now reshaping the conflict's scale.
Notable Quotes
Those allied forces believe that they all face a survival threat from the government— Eyob Tilahun, Ethiopian academic
We have established a joint alliance called the Ethiopian Peoples' Forces Alliance for Survival— Joint statement from the seven armed groups
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