Nearly two years after the Pretoria Agreement formally ended the devastating war in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, tensions have never gone away and new ones are surfacing, this time within the very political structures meant to guide recovery and reconciliation. Internal divisions within the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) have reached a breaking point culminating in the ousting of Tigray’s interim President, Getachew Reda.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed replaced Getachew with Lieutenant General Tadesse Worede, the former commander of the Tigray Defense Forces (TDF). Getachew, who had led the Tigray Interim Regional Administration (TIRA) after the peace deal, was reassigned as Advisor for East African Affairs with the rank of minister.
The appointment was framed as an attempt to maintain regional stability amid fears of renewed conflict. However, the change reveals a lack of unity in the TPLF behind Getachew, stemming from an entrenched power struggle that has gripped the TPLF since the guns fell silent in late 2022.
“Internal rifts have long been part of the TPLF’s history—what we’re seeing now is just the latest chapter in a familiar pattern,” Temesgen Kahsay, assistant professor at the Norwegian School of Leadership and Theology, told Peoples Dispatch. Temesgen, who previously examined the party’s early 2000s fallout, explored similar dynamics in a Geeska Africa article.
“Shortly after the signing of the Pretoria Agreement, the leadership within the TPLF began to clash over who should seize and consolidate power. Unfortunately, this internal power struggle has diverted attention from the real issues on the ground—mass displacement, justice and accountability, economic collapse, and a population in distress.”
The aftermath of war and a fractured peace
The TPLF was the dominant political force in Ethiopia’s ruling coalition for nearly three decades but was forced out of federal power in 2018 amid mass protests and reduced to a regional party, in power only in the northernmost border state of Tigray.
On November 3, 2020, TPLF launched the Tigray War by launching an attack on Ethiopia’s largest army base, reportedly killing thousands of soldiers and looting its armory containing 70% of ENDF’s weapons stock.
Around 600,000 lives were reportedly lost in northern Ethiopia as a result of the war, which concluded with the signing of the Pretoria Agreement only after the TPLF’s forces had been beaten back and encircled in Mekelle. The peace agreement “stopped an average of 1,000 deaths per day,” Olusegun Obasanjo, the African Union (AU) envoy to the Horn of Africa, who had led the peace negotiations, told the Financial Times in January 2023.
The peace deal however has been met with roadblocks in its implementation, and violence has continued in pockets of the region, eroding faith in the agreement’s capacity to deliver justice or reconciliation.
In the meantime, Tigray’s recovery has been painfully slow. Infrastructure remains in ruins, agriculture disrupted, and social services virtually non-functional. Displacement is widespread, and the economy is barely breathing. The simmering discontent has exacerbated the existing political tensions within the TPLF, already divided over the fallout of the war.
Power politics and the erosion of trust
The long-simmering rivalry between Getachew and TPLF’s long-time chairman, Debretsion Gebremichael, has come to the surface, as the latest leadership reshuffle deepens an already volatile situation. The internal contest for power within the TPLF is as much about political power and legitimacy as it is about leadership in a region still struggling to recover from war.
Debretsion, seen as a figurehead of the pre-war leadership, maintains considerable influence among the old guard, while Getachew, a younger figure who led negotiations during the peace talks, gained favor as a pragmatic leader willing to engage with the federal government, but his position was always seen as that of compromise with the federal government depriving TPLF of monopoly power and control of Addis Ababa.
And, thus the very notion of engagement has become a point of contention.
“There is deep mistrust between the TPLF and the federal government,” explains Temesgen. “What we’re witnessing now is less a genuine process of cooperation and more of a ‘marriage of convenience.’ Some of the same regional actors who were aligned during the war have now shifted allegiances. There’s no real effort to address the root causes of the conflict.”
This distrust is compounded by rumours and accusations. The federal government has repeatedly accused factions within the TPLF of continuing to collaborate with Eritrean actors, allegations that stoke fear and suspicion among the public.
The situation is not simply a matter of personal rivalry between Debretsion and Getachew, it reflects a broader crisis within the TPLF about how to move forward in post-war Ethiopia. Tensions remain high, and the fear of another civil war hangs heavy in the air.
People left behind
While political leaders in Addis Ababa and Mekelle jostle for control, the people of Tigray continue to suffer the consequences. Displacement camps remain overcrowded. Food and medicine are still in short supply. Prices have skyrocketed, and basic services remain unavailable. The human toll is worsening, yet it rarely occupies center stage in regional and national discourses.
“People are tired,” Temesgen says. “They are tired of fear, of uncertainty, of the threat of renewed conflict. The shadow of war never really left. What’s worse is that people feel unheard. Their suffering has been sidelined by power politics.”
The tragedy is that the humanitarian crisis has been eclipsed by political calculations. As actors maneuver for influence, the victims of the war; the civilians, the farmers, the children and youth, the displaced remain marginalized.
A call for dialogue
Temesgen, like many observers, is doubtful for a way forward even though dialogue remains the only way.
“For any breakthrough to happen, all parties must shift their focus back to the people. That means fostering a genuine interest in dialogue and addressing the root causes of the conflict in a peaceful manner,” he says. “But right now, there’s too much mistrust, too many betrayals, too many shifting alliances.”
Also, Ethiopia’s media landscape has only made things worse. “It’s highly polarized. There are very few independent voices who can provide accurate, balanced reporting. That makes it hard to know what’s really happening not just in Tigray, but across the country.”
At the heart of the crisis lies a deeper tension; Tigray’s future remains uncertain as its political leadership remains fractured and divided. Healing is hindered by the absence of justice, and peace remains fragile without the foundation of trust.
For now, the people of Tigray continue to wait for answers, for accountability, for relief. As power struggles play out behind closed doors, the streets of Mekelle and the rural fields of Tigray remain haunted by the war’s unfinished legacy.
