Tensions are escalating in Ethiopia’s Tigray region as rival factions of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) clash over control of a significant town, Adigrat, in perhaps a sign of a possible return to conflict. Getachew Reda, the leader of the TPLF’s interim administration, has accused Debretsion Gebremichael, the head of a rival faction, of seizing control of Adigrat in the Tigray region on Tuesday. Debretsion’s group has confirmed the takeover through social media.
The TPLF has governed Tigray since a 2022 peace deal concluded a two-year war with Ethiopia’s federal government, and the split in the faction currently threatens a new conflict in the region. Getachew said that the Ethiopian federal forces must act to uphold the Pretoria Agreement, which ended a conflict that claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced millions. He also fired three senior military leaders, saying that they were fueling internal conflict.
Ethiopia’s government, under Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, has yet to react to these developments. The truce established in 2022 led to the formation of Tigray’s interim administration, but internal divisions within the TPLF have become worse since then. Getachew has called on federal authorities to take action against what he described as a “backward and criminal clique” saying that the silence from the Ethiopian government could lead to “a second round of destruction” for the people of Tigray.