Tensions have reached a boiling point in northern Ethiopia after the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) unilaterally dismantled the federally appointed interim administration and reinstated its own regional government. The organization elected TPLF leader Debretsion Gebremichael as president, in open defiance of the 2022 Pretoria peace agreement that ended a brutal two-year civil war. Ethiopian military jets were subsequently observed over the regional capital Mekelle, and federal forces are reportedly repositioning in neighboring Amhara and Afar states. Experts warn that the escalating standoff risks dragging neighboring Eritrea, which has longstanding tensions with Ethiopia, and proxy powers into a renewed, catastrophic conflict. The situation benefits hardline factions within the TPLF as it helps them reassert military and political dominance over the region. In contrast, it endangers Tigrayan citizens who only recently survived one of the deadliest conflicts this century.
DW
