Authorities in Ethiopia’s Tigray say a peace deal that ended a devastating two-year war is being violated in the latest escalation
The interim administration of Ethiopia’s Tigray region asked the country’s federal government for help after a faction of the troubled state’s main political party seized control of two major towns, sparking fears of an outbreak of another civil war.
In a statement on Wednesday, the region’s communication affairs bureau said some senior Tigray army commanders have been plotting a coup against the government since January.
“Attacks targeting civilians continue. The acts of dismantling the government from top to bottom continue to intensify,” it stated, adding that the “region may be on the brink of another crisis.”
A faction of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) – formerly Ethiopia’s dominant political party – reported on Tuesday that it has taken over the northern town of Adigrat. It reportedly captured Adi-Gudem, near the regional capital Mekele, the next night. According to the Associated Press, several people were injured when forces attempted to take control of a government building in Adi-Gudem.
Earlier on Tuesday, Getachew Reda, leader of Tigray’s interim government, fired three top army commanders and the head of the security bureau, accusing them of failing to put an end to “illegal activities” and the “act of destruction.”
Tigray’s interim administration was established in 2023 as part of the Pretoria Agreement, an African Union-mediated peace deal concluded in the South African capital that ended two years of fighting between Tigrayan forces and the federal government. The intense war that erupted in 2020 was named the world’s deadliest conflict in 2022 by the Peace Research Institute Oslo, with well over 100,000 people killed.
On Wednesday, the regional communications bureau stated that “illegal factions” within the Tigray army were violating the Pretoria Treaty by “dissolving the government.”
“The federal government must… understand that those acting in the name of the security forces are agents of a backward and criminal clique who do not represent the people or the Interim Administration of Tigray, and provide the necessary support,” it said.
“It must not remain silent as the Pretoria Agreement is violated and the people of Tigray enter into a second round of destruction,” it added.
The TPLF responded by accusing government officials of “betraying” national interests and “becoming agents of external forces.” It condemned the removal of top generals as “concerted internal and external conspiracies to disband” the army.
