Mekelle፡Telaviv, Nairobi, Pretoria, London, (Tigray Herald)
The Criminal Mask of Peace: A Condemnation Report on the Tigray Bureau of Peace and Security
Where There Is No Justice, There Is No Peace
Prepared by: Horn of Africa Geopolitical Review
Contributors: Leading Regional and International Political, Legal, and Security Experts
Date: May 17, 2025Location: Mekelle, Tigray – Ethiopia
Executive Summary
The Horn of Africa Geopolitical Review (HAGR) issues this urgent and uncompromising condemnation of the so-called Tigray Bureau of Peace and Security (ቢሮ ሰላምን ፀጥታን ትግራይ)for its gross failure to uphold the most basic principles of justice, accountability, and public trust.
In light of the May 16, 2025, courtroom chaos during the sentencing of two men convicted forthe brutal 2023 murder of Zewdu Haftu, it is evident that Tigray’s security and legal institutions remain infiltrated by a criminal enterprise operating under the remnants of the TPLF’s “Above the Core” power network.
This document outlines the systematic complicity, institutional decay, and deliberate silence thathave transformed a bureau meant to safeguard the people into an instrument of intimidation,corruption, and violence. The report serves as both a condemnation and a strategic call foraction, reform, and justice.
I. Background:The Murder of Zewdu Haftu
In August 2023, Zewdu Haftu, a defenseless Tigrayan woman, was violently murdered in Mekelle. The accused—Yared Gebresellase and Angesom Hailemariam—were found guilty onMay 16, 2025, following nearly two years of delay tactics, legal interference, and procedural sabotage.
The sentencing hearing, however, descended into disorder when relatives of theconvicts—allegedly connected to senior former security figures—disrupted the court room in ablatant attempt to intimidate the judiciary.This was not a spontaneous act of grief—it was a calculated expression of impunity rooted in alarger system of organized criminal protection that thrives under the watch of the Bureau of Peace and Security.
II. Institutional Collapse: A Bureau as Accomplice
The Bureau of Peace and Security has failed its constitutional and moral mandate. It has become:A silent accomplice to gender-based violence and targeted assassinations.A protector of remnants of the TPLF’s Above the Core military-political cabal.A hostile actor against judicial independence and democratic reforms.
Key Failures Include:
No oficial statement or action on the Zewdu Haftu murder or other unsolved assassinations.
No investigation or protection in cases of sexual violence against Tigrayan women.
No legal consequences for individuals who openly threaten judges, including a woman tied to aformer TPLF police commissioner involved in orchestrating the courtroom intimidation.The Bureau’s silence is not negligence—it is calculated complicity.
III. The Above the Core: TPLF’s Shadow State in Tigray
The network responsible for Tigray’s instability is the TPLF’s Above the Core structure: anentrenched group of ex-generals, intelligence operatives, and political commanders embeddedin every major institution, including the security apparatus, judiciary, and civil administration.
This clandestine structure:Operates with total impunity, undermining all eforts at justice and reform. Is linked to extrajudicial killings, resource looting, and sexual violence.Actively mobilizes relatives and loyalists to obstruct justice, intimidate courts, and derail prosecutions.What occurred in Mekelle’s courtroom was not an anomaly—it was a window into the systemiccriminal capture of the state.
IV. Silence Is a Crime:
The Bureau’s Deliberate InactionIn any democratic or accountable society, silence in the face of violence is complicity. The Bureau’s deliberate refusal to acknowledge or act upon these heinous crimes constitutes a formof institutional violence.Its continued silence:
Erodes public trust in law and order.Emboldens perpetrators of violence.Reinforces the culture of impunity inherited from the TPLF’s authoritarian legacy.The Bureau is no longer a protector of peace—it is a criminal shield.
V. Recommendations: Strategic Policy Actions
This report serves not only to condemn, but to catalyze action. The following urgent reforms arerecommended:
1. Dismantle the Bureau of Peace and Security and rebuild it under a transitional, independentauthority free from TPLF legacy actors.
2. Establish an Independent Commission of Inquiry—comprised of Tigrayan legal experts,women’s rights advocates, clergy, and international observers—to investigate unresolvedcrimes.
3. Prosecute all individuals involved in courtroom intimidation and judicial interference,regardless of political or familial afiliation.
4. Provide full legal protection and security guarantees for judges, prosecutors, and witnessesinvolved in sensitive cases.
5. Suspend or remove all Bureau personnel with credible links to obstructive activities, includingthe wife of the former police commissioner involved in threatening court oficials.These steps are essential for restoring legitimacy to Tigray’s justice system.
VI. Final Message: To the Bureau and Its Criminal Guardians
Shame on you.
You claim to defend peace and order, yet protect murderers, rapists, and looters.You wear uniforms, but you are nothing more than state-sanctioned criminals.You have betrayed the trust, blood, and sacrifice of the Tigrayan people.
The people of Tigray did not endure genocide only to be re-enslaved by internal tyrants in suitsand uniforms.Your era is ending.
Conclusion:
Justice for Zewdu Haftu Is Justice for Tigray
This document will be submitted to the Tigray Interim Government, international human rights commissions, legal watchdogs, and diaspora-led justice initiatives. The people of Tigray deserve truth, accountability, and a new order rooted in dignity and democratic justice.There are thousands of unresolved crimes across Tigray.
There is no peace without justice.There is no future without accountability.Let it be known: A criminal syndicate cannot be the guardian of peace.
