In August 1989 a sequence of mb 5--6 normal faulting earthquakes occurred in the area between the Ghoubbet Asal-Manda Inakir and Manda Haroro-Abhe Bad rifts in central Afar. Relocation of the events suggest they occurred on major faults in the Dobi graben, located midway between the principal rift zones. The earthquakes are evidence that extensional strain is still occurring in the area. The bookshelf tectonic model for central and southern Afar proposed by Tapponnier et al. [1990> is modified to account for ongoing extension in the area between the principal rifts as well as distributed shear. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1992