Ethiopia - April 2026

On 8 April, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed extended the mandate of Lieutenant-General Tadesse Werede as head of the Tigray Interim Regional Administration by one year. The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) rejected the move the next day as a unilateral breach of the 2022 Pretoria Agreement, which ended the two-year war in northern Ethiopia. On 19 April, the TPLF announced it would reinstate the region’s pre-war government, suspended under the deal, and accused the federal government of repeated violations. Tadesse, the region’s interim president, countered that reinstating the assembly would itself breach the deal, exposing a party rift. On 29 April, the TPLF urged Tadesse to cede power. The standoff has frozen the transition: the 1 June elections, meant to replace the interim administration with an elected Tigray government, are not expected to proceed there, freezing what Pretoria made temporary. The federal government has amassed forces along the region’s borders and restricted fuel and fiscal transfers, though international commentators noted these shortages, and the polls, may temper escalation.  

Sources: Africa News, Al Jazeera, Africa Confidential, International Crisis Group