Members of a government-aligned militia earlier this year on the outskirts of Abala, a town near the rebel-held city of Mekelle, the capital of the Tigray region. Cross-border fighting has flared again in the bloody conflict pitting Ethiopia and its allies against rebels from the country’s Tigray region, threatening to destabilize a swath of East Africa as U.S. diplomats push to restart stalled peace negotiations. Tens of thousands of soldiers from Eritrea, which is backing Ethiopia’s government, have opened three new fronts in recent days, according to diplomats and analysts. Aid agencies say the fighting in the northern region of Tigray is the heaviest since hostilities resumed in August, with artillery and drone strikes destroying civilian infrastructure and cutting off deliveries of food to more than five million people.

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