RismadarVoice Reporters
September 24, 2026
Ethiopian President Taye Atske-Selassie has told the United Nations that his country has exercised “immense restraint” despite what he described as continued foreign interference, as renewed fighting in the northern Tigray region threatens a four-year-old peace agreement.
Atske-Selassie made the remarks while addressing the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Wednesday.
His address came hours after fresh fighting erupted between forces from the Tigray region and Ethiopia’s federal government, raising concerns about a return to wider conflict.
“Despite continued interference in our internal affairs by adversarial elements, we have exercised immense restraint,” Atske-Selassie told the General Assembly.
“Our message to forces of destruction and mayhem is loud and clear. We urge them to respect the sacred right of the people of the Horn of Africa to live in peace and prosperity.”
The Ethiopian president did not identify the external actors he accused of interfering in the country’s internal affairs.
During his address, Atske-Selassie presented Ethiopia as committed to regional stability, highlighting efforts to improve relations with neighbouring countries and support initiatives aimed at ending the conflict in Sudan.
The renewed hostilities in Tigray represent a major challenge to the Pretoria Agreement signed in November 2022, which ended two years of devastating conflict between the federal government and forces from the region.
Tigrayan forces launched an offensive against federal government positions on Wednesday, according to an Ethiopian government official, while Tigrayan leaders described their actions as defensive and accused the federal government of aggression.
The escalation follows months of worsening tensions between the two sides.
Days earlier, seven Ethiopian armed groups, including the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, announced the formation of an alliance involving armed organisations from different parts of the country with the stated aim of removing Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government.
The Ethiopian government has accused neighbouring Eritrea of financially supporting members of the alliance, an allegation Eritrea has previously denied.
Diplomats and regional analysts have warned that renewed conflict in Tigray could spread beyond northern Ethiopia and further destabilise the Horn of Africa, which is already confronting the war in neighbouring Sudan and heightened tensions around the Red Sea.
The previous Tigray conflict began in 2020 and continued until the Pretoria peace agreement was signed in 2022, ending large-scale hostilities between the federal government and Tigrayan forces.
