Al Jazeera – Breaking News, World News and Video from Al Jazeera
· collected 2026-09-05 · by Selamawit Getachew Amare
When Ethiopia’s federal government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) signed the Pretoria Agreement in November 2022, it was meant to end two years of devastating war.
asserted
it → sign → war
The agreement called for a permanent cessation of hostilities, the disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration of Tigrayan forces, political dialogue and the return of displaced people.
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agreement → call → people
Article 7 also required the TPLF to refrain from conscription, training, deployment and mobilisation of military forces, as well as preparations for renewed conflict.
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Article → require → conflict
Nearly four years later, the large-scale war has ended, but many of the disputes that fuelled it remain unresolved.
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that → end → it
More significantly, the period since 2024 has seen the TPLF reposition itself politically and organisationally while retaining military leverage and developing new relationships.
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TPLF → see → relationships
The sequence is striking: TPLF contacts with Eritrean officials, including reported meetings in Dubai and Zalambessa; a renewed struggle over political control in Tigray; reports of recruitment and mobilisation; new clashes involving Tigrayan forces; and the emergence of Tsimdo, a loose convergence of groups opposed to the federal government.
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sequence → include → government
Taken together, the developments raise a question over whether Pretoria became less a completed transition to peace than a period in which the TPLF could regroup and reposition itself while the underlying conflict remained unresolved.
uncertain
conflict → take → itself
There is no evidence that the TPLF entered the agreement with a predetermined plan to use it as a tactical pause.
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TPLF → be → pause
But the events since 2024 suggest that the movement has retained an organisational and security role that Pretoria was supposed to diminish.
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Pretoria → suggest → that
What happened to disarmament?
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What → happen → disarmament
Article 6 established the process for disarming, demobilising and reintegrating TPLF fighters.
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Article → establish → fighters
Tigrayan forces handed over heavy weapons after the agreement, and thousands of former combatants have entered demobilisation programmes.
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thousands → hand → programmes
But the process did not fully dismantle the region’s military structures.
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process → dismantle → structures
In 2026, reports emerged of renewed recruitment and forced mobilisation in Tigray.
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reports → emerge → Tigray
If confirmed, such activity would go beyond the incomplete implementation of the disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) process and directly challenge Article 7’s ban on conscription and mobilisation.
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activity → confirm → conscription
The distinction between organised mobilisation and the views of Tigray’s civilian population is important.
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distinction → organise → population
There is no basis for assuming that Tigrayans as a whole support a return to war.
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Tigrayans → be → war
Many are still living with the consequences of the last conflict.
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Many → live → conflict
A civilian source in Tigray, who spoke to Al Jazeera on condition of anonymity, said: “The people of Tigray want peace; we don’t want a second war.”
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we → speak → war
For those civilians, reports of recruitment carry a simple implication: the possibility of being pulled back into a conflict they believed had ended.
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they → carry → conflict
How did the TPLF reposition itself?
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TPLF → reposition → itself
From 2024, the TPLF was increasingly consumed by an internal struggle over its direction after the war.
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TPLF → consume → war
The internal meetings and political manoeuvring formed part of a wider contest over the movement’s future.
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meetings → form → future
The struggle eventually reached Tigray’s political institutions.
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struggle → reach → institutions
Getachew Reda was removed as head of the interim administration in 2025 and replaced by Lieutenant General Tadesse Werede.
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Reda → remove → Werede
Then, in May 2026, the Tigray regional council was reinstated and elected Debretsion Gebremichael as president, strengthening the position of the faction around him.
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council → reinstate → him
The developments showed that the TPLF remained a powerful political force in Tigray.
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TPLF → show → Tigray
Instead of a settled post-war political order emerging, the region was again caught in a struggle over authority while the security question remained unresolved.
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question → settle → authority
When did politics turn back into fighting?
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politics → turn → fighting
By early 2026, political tensions were accompanied by military developments.
Tigray Defence Forces-aligned troops crossed the Tekeze River into the disputed Tselemt district in January and clashed with Ethiopian federal forces.
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troops → accompany → forces
Later, TDF-aligned fighters took control of Alamata and Korem after a federal command post withdrew.
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post → align → Alamata
By August, fighting had again broken out in western Tigray near the Sudanese border, in another serious breach of the peace agreement.
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fighting → break → agreement
The federal government and the TPLF blamed each other for the escalation, while responsibility for initiating the clashes remained disputed.
But the renewed fighting demonstrated that organised armed forces were still capable of mobilising and contesting territory.
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forces → blame → territory
The incomplete disarmament has therefore become more consequential as the political disputes left unresolved by Pretoria have begun to coincide with renewed military activity.
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disputes → become → activity
Why are former enemies finding common ground?
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enemies → find → ground
The repositioning has extended beyond Tigray.
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repositioning → extend → Tigray
Eritrea and the TPLF fought a devastating border war from 1998 to 2000.
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Eritrea → fight → 2000
Eritrean forces later fought alongside Ethiopia’s federal government against the TPLF during the 2020-22 Tigray war.
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forces → fight → war
Yet the post-Pretoria period has brought reports of closer contacts between Eritrea and elements of the TPLF.
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period → bring → TPLF
Ethiopia has accused Eritrea of supporting the TPLF and using it as a proxy.
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Ethiopia → accuse → proxy
…and 25 more, not listed.
