Nearly four years after the Pretoria Agreement ended Ethiopia’s large-scale Tigray war, Al Jazeera’s September 2026 reporting from Addis Ababa describes something closer to a pause that never became a settlement. The deal demanded disarmament, demobilisation, political dialogue, and a ban on conscription and mobilisation. Heavy weapons were handed over and thousands entered DDR programmes, but Tigrayan military structures were never fully dismantled.
Since 2024 the TPLF has fought its way back into Tigray’s institutions. Getachew Reda was removed as interim head in 2025; Lieutenant General Tadesse Werede took the federal-backed seat; then in May 2026 the reinstated regional council elected Debretsion Gebremichael as president. DW reporting from the same period noted MiG jets over Mekelle and ENDF positioning in neighbouring Amhara and Afar as Debretsion’s return hardened into a challenge to Abiy Ahmed’s appointed interim.
The fighting returned with the politics. Al Jazeera records TDF-aligned crossings into disputed Tselemt in January, the temporary seizure of Alamata and Korem, and August clashes in western Tigray near Sudan. Reports of renewed recruitment and forced mobilisation, if confirmed, would breach Pretoria’s Article 7. About 1.9 million people were displaced in the earlier war; many still cannot go home to Welkait, Tsegede, Humera, and Raya. Meanwhile reporting on the loose Tsimdo convergence points to Fano, OLA, and TPLF actors finding common ground against the regime in Addis Ababa even while their territorial claims still clash.
Civilians are not asking for another war. One Tigrayan quoted by Al Jazeera said the fear of being drafted is what is making many youth lose hope. Pretoria stopped the slaughter. It did not settle power, territory, or security, and Abiy Ahmed’s Prosperity Party government has not delivered the unfinished pieces either.
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