Fears over Ethiopia peace deal as TPLF restores Tigray government

Announcement from Tigray’s main political party has sparked concern over the potential resumption of a deadly conflict in northern Ethiopia.Tigray’s main political party has announced that it is taking back control of the region’s government, effectively ending a peace deal between Ethiopia’s federal government and the northern region.The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) made the announcement in a Facebook post on Sunday, sparking fears of a resumption of the deadly conflict that raged between the government and regional forces between 2020 and 2022.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Tigray fighters enter Ethiopia’s Afar region, stoking fears of new conflictlist 2 of 4Is war between Ethiopia & Eritrea inevitable?: Mehdi Hasan & Getachew Redalist 3 of 4Ethiopia demands Eritrea ‘immediately withdraw’ troops from its territorylist 4 of 4Will Ethiopia be part of Israel’s ‘hexagon’ alliance rivalling its enemies?end of listThe TPLF said its central committee “has decided to reinstate the Tigray Government Assembly (parliament), which had been suspended in the name of peace”.The statement accused the federal government of violating the 2022 Pretoria Agreement, which ended the war, and of provoking armed conflict within the Tigray region. It also accused the government of withholding funds to pay local civil servants.Getachew Reda, the party’s former spokesman and an adviser to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, said the TPLF’s statement constituted “a clear repudiation” of the post-war structure created by the Pretoria Agreement.The conflict stemmed from a breakdown in relations between the TPLF, a rebel-movement-turned-political party that dominated Ethiopian politics for nearly three decades, and Abiy, whose appointment as prime minister in 2018 ended the TPLF’s dominance.The war, in which at least 600,000 people were killed and some 5 million displaced, pitted federal forces, supported by the Eritrean army, against TPLF rebels.The conflict ceased in late 2022 as the African Union mediated the Pretoria Agreement, which called for an interim administration to replace Tigray’s elected bodies until new elections could be organised.