Tigray People’s Liberation Front presses African leaders to act as Ethiopia truce falters

By Sadik Kedir

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AA) - Ethiopia’s Tigray People’s Liberation Front on Thursday urged the African Union to intervene to preserve a fragile truce, warning that setbacks in carrying out a 2022 peace deal could lead to renewed fighting in the north.

In an open letter to Angolan President Joao Lourenco, who chairs the African Union, the TPLF said major elements of the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement (CoHA) that ended the two-year war in Tigray have yet to be fully implemented.

In Ethiopia’s civil war in Tigray, the federal military and its allies — including Eritrea — fought the TPLF. Although the Pretoria Agreement of November 2022 established a fragile peace, tensions have not fully subsided. Now, internal divisions within the TPLF threaten to reignite conflict.

In recent weeks, reports have indicated that the TPLF has been engaging with Eritrean forces, as the Ethiopian federal government has accused Asmara of supporting rebel groups within the country.

The party said renewed military mobilization, rising tensions and measures constraining civilian life — including restrictions on movement, economic pressure and political exclusion — were eroding confidence in the Pretoria peace deal brokered by the African Union in November 2022.

“We write to you at a moment of exceptional consequence for peace, stability, and the credibility of Africa’s collective security architecture.

“Without visible progress and credible follow-through, confidence erodes and the risks of renewed confrontation increase,” the letter said.

The TPLF also called on the AU to publicly reaffirm the binding nature of the ceasefire, accelerate monitoring and verification mechanisms, and support steps toward restoring constitutional order, protecting civilians and enabling the safe return of displaced people.

It also urged the removal of measures that disproportionately affect civilian livelihoods and humanitarian access and pressed for the swift convening of a structured political dialogue among the agreement’s signatories to address what it described as the underlying political, security and governance drivers of the conflict.

“This is a critical juncture,” the letter said, warning that delays or ambiguity could allow mistrust to deepen and instability to spread.
The war in northern Ethiopia erupted in late 2020 between federal forces and the TPLF, killing hundreds of thousands of people and displacing millions before the CoHA halted large-scale fighting.