Mekelle፡Telaviv, Nairobi, Pretoria, London, (Tigray Herald)
TPLF Accuses Ethiopia of Using Eritrean Troop Presence as Pretext for Invasion
“The following document is designed for publication under The Horn of Africa Geopolitical Review, with input by Tigray Herald editorial analysts and international security experts. It includes powerful narrative titles, contextual framing, and exposé-style voice that reveals betrayal, sabotage, and geopolitical consequences.“
Weaponizing Return: How the Outlawed TPLF Leadership Betrays the Tigrayan People Amid Eritrean Occupation
By the Editorial Board of the Horn of Africa Geopolitical ReviewIn and Tigray Herald Team,consultation with leading regional and international security, intelligence, and diplomacy experts
Introduction:
A Statement of Betrayal in the Face of Occupation
In a shocking and disgraceful act of political manipulation, Fetlework Gebregziabher better known by her nickname Monjorino and widely regarded as the most powerful figure in theoutlawed Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) has once again betrayed the people ofTigray. During a high-profile meeting in Mekelle with internally displaced persons (IDPs)demanding to return to their homes, Fetlework not only politicized their sufering but aligned herstatements dangerously close to those made by oficials of the genocidal Eritrean regime. Her remarks mark yet another chapter in the TPLF’s shameful legacy of internal sabotage and criminal opportunism.
Despite overwhelming evidence that Eritrean forces still occupy over 52 Tigrayan administrative villages, committing wide spread atrocities, imprisoning community leaders, and causing the disappearance of hundreds of innocent civilians whose where abouts remain unknown,Fetlework and her inner circle continue to politically weaponize the IDPs return process for theirown illegitimate power games.
II. Fetlework’s Statement: A Dangerous Echo of Eritrean Propaganda
Speaking to IDPs in Mekelle, Fetlework accused the Ethiopian federal government of using the Eritrean military presence in Tigray as a “pretext for invasion” of Eritrea echoing the exactwords used by Eritrea’s Minister of Information, Yemane Gebremeskel. Her remarks were inresponse to a June 2nd opinion piece published by Ethiopian MP and former diplomat,Ambassador Dina Mufti, in the Horn of Africa Geopolitical Review, which called on the international community to pressure Eritrea to withdraw its troops from Tigray.
Instead of aligning with calls for justice, peace, and demilitarization, Fetlework chose to defend a narrative that white washes Eritrean war crimes and undermines legitimate diplomatic eforts to end the occupation. Her rhetoric deliberately distorts the Pretoria Peace Agreement, the Algiersborder decision, and the facts on the ground.
She claimed
“The same government oficials who previously claimed no land was occupied are nowsuddenly asserting that Eritrean troops are occupying Tigray territory. This is being done forpolitical gain and to prepare the ground for war with Eritrea.
”This is not only disingenuous it is treacherous.”
III. Politicizing the Pain: The Weaponization of Tigray’s IDPs
The IDP return process remains one of the most emotionally and politically sensitive issues inpost-genocide Tigray. For over two years, tens of thousands of displaced families have lived inlimbo, many having survived unspeakable atrocities under Eritrean and Amhara occupation.Rather than champion their cause, Fetlework and her criminal TPLF network havesystematically blocked, delayed, and sabotaged IDP return initiatives.
Sources from both within the Tigray Interim Administration and international observers confirm that TPLF loyalists embedded within the bureaucratic apparatus are undermining logistical and securityarrangements for returns often in exchange for illicit financial gains or in pursuit of factionalpolitical control.This form of internal sabotage is not new. It reflects a deeper ideological rot within the TPLF’sinner core a group increasingly disconnected from the people of Tigray and aligned more withthe preservation of corrupt power structures than with justice, healing, or reconstruction.
IV. The TPLF’s Criminal Legacy and Ongoing Subversion
It is imperative to recall that Fetlework Gebregziabher has long been at the center of the TPLF’scriminal political and economic networks. As a senior oficial, she has been linked to: Illegal resource extraction operations during the war period, including gold smuggling. Coordinated political assassinations and cover-ups against reformist elements in Tigray.
Silencing and repression of dissent, including intellectuals, women’s rights activists, and youth movements who opposed the old guard.Now, she attempts to reassert her dominance by presenting herself as a “guardian” of Tigrayan interests, while parroting the propaganda lines of Eritrean warlords responsible for mass killings,rape campaigns, and the destruction of Tigray’s cultural heritage.This betrayal, this coordinated disinformation, must be exposed.
V. Eritrean Occupation: Facts That Cannot Be Denied
Despite her rhetoric, the facts are unassailable:Eritrean forces continue to occupy over 52 Tigrayan villages, primarily in northeastern andnorthwestern zones.Entire communities remain under siege, with access to humanitarian aid blocked or severely limited. Hundreds of Tigrayan civilians including priests, elders, and youth leaders are believed to beheld in secret prisons by Eritrean forces or their local collaborators. Evidence collected by international legal and forensic experts confirms the continued systematictargeting of Tigrayan populations within occupied zones. For any Tigrayan leader to downplay or redirect attention from these realities is not merelypolitical cowardice it is complicity in genocide.
VI. Conclusion: The Call for a New Leadership and National Reckoning
The people of Tigray must confront a hard truth: the internal enemy is as dangerous as theexternal one. Figures like Fetlework Gebregziabher, masquerading as resistance leaders, are infact undermining the very future they claim to defend.
We call on the Tigray Interim Government, led by President Getachew Reda, to:
- Launch an independent investigation into the political sabotage of the IDP return process. 2. Purge all TPLF-afiliated obstructionist networks from public administration roles. 3. Publicly expose and prosecute those who collaborate directly or indirectly with Eritreanoccupation forces. 4. Accelerate international diplomacy to ensure full Eritrean withdrawal and accountability forwar crimes. 5. Establish a truth and justice commission that names and shames those within Tigray whobetrayed the people’s struggle.
Narrative Message to the People of Tigray
No future can be built on the foundation of treachery. The blood of our martyrs, the sufering ofour displaced, and the courage of our youth must not be handed over to the old guard that onceenabled our destruction. Our path forward demands clarity, courage, and accountability. Let usnever again allow the criminals among us to speak for us.
Horn of Africa Geopolitical Review and Tigray Herald’s Team will continue to expose all actors foreign and domestic who seek to derail Tigray’s path to peace, justice, and territorial sovereignty. Westand with the victims. We stand with the truth.
