Omna Tigray: On Recent Political Developments in Tigray and the Path Forward

Omna Tigray expresses deep concern over the trajectory of recent political developments in Tigray. The TPLF’s decision on May 5, 2026 to reinstate the pre-war Tigray Regional Council and elect Debretsion Gebremichael as regional president, effectively voids the post-war governance architecture established under the Pretoria Agreement. Alongside the federal government’s own misconduct toward the region, the product of a sustained pattern of federal action systematically depriving Tigray of political voice and material resources, this decision raises serious questions of legitimacy, inclusion, and long-term stability that must be addressed openly.

The people of Tigray have endured a genocidal war perpetrated by Abiy Ahmed and Isaias Afwerki, sustained displacement, and a humanitarian catastrophe with serious consequences that remain unresolved. The Pretoria Agreement has fallen short on its most critical provisions: the federal government’s obligation to secure the withdrawal of foreign and non-federal forces, including Eritrean troops that were never a party to the agreement and Amhara regional militias, both of which remain; the safe return of hundreds of thousands of internally displaced persons; and meaningful progress on transitional justice. Meanwhile, the federal government has systematically deprived Tigray of political voice and material resources. The region has had no voice in the federal parliament for more than five years, denied elected representation since the 2021 election and shut out of the vote again in 2026. Of the 23.6 billion birr allocated this fiscal year, only 8.5 billion had been disbursed by March 2026, leaving over 141,000 civil servants without consistent salaries. Fuel deliveries, which averaged 12–15 million liters per month after Pretoria, ceased entirely on January 28, 2026, more than a month before the broader fuel disruptions caused by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz in late February 2026, and therefore not attributable to them. The cessation grounded ambulances and paralyzed humanitarian operations for over two million people. Pharmaceutical deliveries fell to zero in January and February 2026, 81% of food aid for over 900,000 beneficiaries remained undelivered as of mid-April, and the House of Federation stripped five Western Tigray districts from the regional administration’s electoral oversight in February 2026. These measures amount to a deliberate siege and political strangulation of the region: a genocide of attrition that Abiy Ahmed’s government continues to perpetrate, and for which it has yet to answer, producing continued suffering and a mass exodus of Tigray’s youth. That strangulation now runs alongside open preparation for war: since February, federal forces have encircled the region from the south and west, and federal drone strikes have repeatedly hit Tigray, most recently near Sheraro on June 5, 2026.

Crises of governance at the regional and federal level have facilitated the situation in Tigray and Ethiopia. Federal elections took place on June 1, 2026; however, they cannot be accepted as legitimate where Tigray is concerned. The people of Tigray remain unable to participate, the only region in Ethiopia to have been excluded, in its entirety, from successive national elections.  At the same time, the TPLF’s May 5 reinstatement of the pre-war Council compounds rather than resolves the legitimacy crisis. Reviving a parliament whose mandate expired years ago, composed almost entirely of one party, cannot credibly govern a population transformed by war and demanding broader representation. A transitional governance arrangement bringing together existing leadership alongside representatives from the broader political and civic spectrum of Tigray would carry far greater legitimacy.

Omna Tigray is also deeply alarmed by credible reports of forced conscription across Tigray. Families in Shire, Adwa, Enticho, Aksum, and Wukro Maray report children forcibly recruited by forces aligned with Tigrayan military leadership, as documented by Human Rights First Ethiopia (HRFE). Forced recruitment of children is a grave breach of international law, and youth and mothers who resist have faced beatings, arbitrary detention, and intimidation. This repression now has legal cover: the reinstated council has reportedly passed, without public disclosure or consultation, a proclamation on safeguarding the existence and security of the people of Tigray (No. 366/2018) that criminalizes dissent, independent media, and civil society work, strips basic judicial safeguards, and through a sweeping definition of ‘enemy’ reaches ordinary civilians and the diaspora alike. Omna Tigray has joined others in demanding its disclosure and suspension. A people did not survive a genocidal war to be governed, under the guise of safeguarding, by a law that recasts dissent as treason.

We call on Tigray’s leadership to: reconsider an inclusive transitional governance model developed through open consultation; establish transparent participation criteria with representatives chosen through independent processes; publish a roadmap toward credible regional elections; end all forced conscription immediately; and provide greater transparency regarding diplomatic efforts.

We further call on the international community to press for full Pretoria Agreement implementation, restore Tigray’s budget transfers and humanitarian access, support independent transitional justice and independent investigations, and engage Tigrayan stakeholders broadly in any dialogue on the region’s political future.