ADDIS ABABA — A day after Ethiopia’s federal government named a six-month caretaker administration for Tigray, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front warned the region’s institutions that any that cooperate with it would be considered affiliated with the ruling party and held accountable.
Anadolu Agency reported that the TPLF, in a statement on Saturday, called the administration a “Prosperity structure,” an illegitimate imposition by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s ruling Prosperity Party, and said decisions made under its authority would have “no legality or enforceability.” The appointments came on Friday: Asefa Abrahaga Hagos as chief administrator and Shishay Amare as mayor of Mekelle, with six months to restore services, rebuild war-damaged infrastructure, help displaced residents return and prepare for elections, according to the prime minister’s office.
The dispute is no longer about whether the new team exists. It is about whom an institution in Tigray answers to.
The government’s own statement, Xinhua reported, described the war “launched for the fourth time by the TPLF leadership” as one that “has once again ended with TPLF’s defeat.” The confrontation nonetheless comes amid renewed fighting, according to Anadolu, with federal troops and allied Tigray Peace Force fighters expanding control across northern Tigray, including Mekelle and several towns near the Eritrean border. That fighting threatens the November 2022 Pretoria peace deal, which ended the earlier two-year war.
It also reaches past Tigray. Addis Ababa accuses Eritrea of backing armed opposition groups, which Eritrea denies, and the two governments have each told the UN the other started the war. On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio urged de-escalation in a call with Abiy and warned against cross-border incursions, Anadolu reported on Friday.
The TPLF also accused the federal government of using airports in Tigray for military purposes and told residents to stay away from them. Anadolu noted that the party offered no independently verifiable evidence. TEH has not seen the text of the statement; Anadolu attributed the party’s position to local media.
The government has promised elections within six months. Neither the government’s statement nor the TPLF’s, as reported, says what an institution in Mekelle is supposed to do on Monday if it finds itself between the two.
