By Abraha Belai
The abduction of cameraman Filmon Gebrehiwot in Mekelle about a month ago, followed by the disappearance of graphic artist Tedros Alemu earlier Tuesday, has underscored the depth of insecurity in Ethiopia’s war-scarred Tigray region. “His disappearance is not only a threat to Filmon’s family but also to all of us,” journalist Haftom Haile warned on Facebook. Yet, in a climate where fear has replaced outrage, “such crimes are met with public indifference until the danger reaches each household’s door.”
These incidents are emblematic of Tigray’s widening descent into lawlessness and anarchy. Many women have been abducted and killed. Others have also been added to the list of forced disappearances. Many trace this climate of impunity to the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which for decades cultivated a mercenary political culture. Founded nearly half a century ago, the TPLF drew in Tigrayan youth under the banner of resistance to the Derg dictatorship. But critics argue its true objective was to secure Eritrea’s secession from Ethiopia, leaving behind a legacy of manipulation, repression, and instability that continues to plague the region.
Today, Tigray remains under the sway of former army generals loyal to the late Meles Zenawi, who ruled Ethiopia with an iron hand until his death in 2012. While credited with driving economic growth, Meles is also condemned for leaving Ethiopia landlocked after Eritrea’s independence and for instituting an ethnic federalism system that, critics note, resembles the divisive frameworks that fractured Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union. The result has been a deeply fragmented political order that eroded Ethiopia’s cohesion.
The destructive reach of the TPLF is perhaps most starkly visible in Raya, a region where the group’s political structure was uprooted and a popularly elected administration governed until recently. To bring this rebellious stronghold back under its control, the TPLF orchestrated a coup that forced public servants to flee for their lives. In their place, the group has deployed armed gangs that terrorize communities and strike fear into the hearts of residents. Killings and mass arrests have become everyday occurrences. As a result, Raya’s youth are abandoning their towns in growing numbers—many joining the armed resistance against TPLF rule.
Though Tigray has yet to recover from the catastrophic 2020–2022 genocidal war, it now faces the threat of yet another conflict—this time pitting the Eritrean regime of Isaias Afwerki against the Ethiopian federal government under Abiy Ahmed. True to form, the TPLF has signaled its readiness to align with Eritrea. In a recent statement, the group declared: “The federal government of Ethiopia is preparing to invade us. It has an enormous arsenal of weapons, including many drones. But we are not alone. Eritrea, Egypt, Sudan and Fano [armed insurgents in the Amhara region] are alongside us. We will overcome any war with the Abiy Ahmed regime.”
Such rhetoric reveals not only the TPLF’s enduring willingness to sacrifice Tigray’s people in pursuit of its own survival but also the perilous convergence of regional powers and militias that threaten to turn the conflict into a wider conflagration. For the war-weary population of Tigray—already devastated by famine, displacement, and trauma—the prospect of once again being thrust into another externally entangled war is nothing short of catastrophic.
The tragedy of Tigray is that history threatens to repeat itself. Decades of manipulation by the TPLF left the region fractured, impoverished, and mistrustful, even as its leaders cloaked themselves in the language of liberation. Today, the same group presents itself once more as the “protector” of Tigray, yet its actions—abductions, coups, and open alliance with Eritrea—betray its true priority: the survival of its own leadership at any cost.
For ordinary Tigrayans, the cost is staggering. Lawlessness reigns in Mekelle, repression grips Raya, and the looming threat of a wider regional war promises only further devastation. Instead of peace, accountability, and reconstruction after years of genocide and famine, the people are again being dragged toward bloodshed.
The international community cannot afford to mistake this moment. Tigray’s crisis is not simply the aftermath of war; it is the deliberate perpetuation of instability by a political class that thrives on conflict. Unless TPLF’s mercenary leaders are confronted and checked by the federal govenrment, Tigray will remain trapped in a cycle of violence that devours its own people while destabilizing Ethiopia.
- Abraha Belai is an Ethiopian-American journalist who writes from Seattle, Washington.
Editor’s Note : Views in the article do not necessarily reflect the views of borkena.com
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