Alliance says its forces are under attack on several fronts as fighting widens

As fighting widened on 24 September, the alliance issued a statement saying the federal government was attacking its member forces on several fronts and presenting its members' response as part of the struggle that had brought them together. In Tigray, TPLF central committee member Addisalem Balema told Al Jazeera the situation had become a “full war”, and set out the coalition's programme: “We have a political charter, and our aim is to remove the personalist regime of Abiy Ahmed, establish a transitional government, hold a constitutional dialogue and move to elections.”

He was candid about why the movements had set aside old enmities: “We've been forced to ally with other movements who also face an existential threat from the government. We don't want a repeat of 2020 when we were encircled and alone.”

He also acknowledged unresolved disputes inside the coalition, including competing claims over western Tigray, saying members had agreed to settle them through dialogue. Not every member has moved at the same pace: OLA leader Jaal Marroo had described the agreement in the preceding days as a “procedural consensus” rather than a substantive settlement on Ethiopia's political future, and the ONLF leadership inside Ethiopia's Somali region denies joining the alliance, although the faction that signed says it now regards its 2018 peace deal with the government as void. The regional bloc IGAD called for hostilities to cease and direct dialogue to resume.