MekelleTeklaviv,Nairobi,Pretoria,London,March 13፡2025 (Tigray Herald)
Tigray need peace,but it’s on the brink of fourth war.
By Alex de Waal
Mulugeta Gebrehiwot Berhe
Since the signing of the Pretoria Permanence Ceasefire Agreement in November 2022, Tigray’s political leaders have been a grievous disappointment.
That agreement brought one thing only: an end to the fighting. That is a modest but precious achievement. If war resumes, there will be no winners.
During the 24 months of war from 2020 to 2022, the people of Tigray showed astonishing resilience and unity in resisting the savage onslaught of the combined forces of the governments of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in Addis Ababa and President Isayas Afewerki in Eritrea. Women and men from all walks of life joined together and collectively saved the Tigrayan people from annihilation. At the end of the war, the Tigray Defense Forces stood above politics.
The people of Tigray did not struggle against genocide and starvation to save the TPLF. But the leaders of the TPLF claimed the victory as theirs, and resumed their intriguing and corruption, subjugating the collective good of the people to their petty ambitions.
All hoped that Tigray’s generals would stay above the political fray. And for two years they did so. The unity of the army at least meant that political quarrels would not descend into violent conflict.
Today, some TDF generals are betraying that hope. They are taking sides in factional squabbles. They are threatening to take military action against one another. They are endangering the fragile peace and betraying the trust vested in them.
The threat of civil war in Tigray is particularly grievous because Ethiopia and Eritrea are at the brink of war. The two national armies have mobilized and are facing off along their common border. If they go to war, each will try to co-opt elements of the TDF to fight on their side. The front line will run through the towns and villages of Tigray.
Tigrayans have suffered far too much to be dragged into another war. They should not kill one another over their own politicians’ intrigues. Neither should they reduce themselves to proxies and fight the wars of others.
The biggest victims of any such war will be the civilian population. They are already desperately hungry, lacking essential medicine, their basic infrastructure wrecked, their children out of school. Humanitarian aid, already meager, has slowed to a trickle.
Tigray needs peace. The minimum responsibility of the TDF generals is to keep that peace. Anything else is a betrayal for which they will forever be judged.
Source፡World Peace Foundation
