Addis Ababa, July 6, 2026 (FMC) – A new, comprehensive statement from Human Rights Watch (HRW) has exposed a widespread and deeply troubling campaign of unlawful military mobilization orchestrated by the defunct TPLF faction in the Tigray region.
The findings reveal a systematic descent into violence, illustrating how the group is actively preparing for renewed conflict while dismantling the region’s post-conflict stability.
According to HRW, this illicit entity, which lacks any legal mandate or standing, has been forcibly recruiting civilians—including children as young as 15—since at least April 2026.
The campaign involves systematic abductions of former combatants and other men and boys from streets, offices, and gold-mining sites, as well as aggressive nighttime house-to-house searches.
This coercive mobilization intensified following the faction’s illegal ouster of the federally appointed interim administration in May 2026 and the subsequent issuance of a security and mobilization proclamation in early June. This decree, which observers have described as a “blueprint for authoritarianism,” establishes compulsory military service and codifies a police state.
In its statement issued today, HRW reports that the proclamation introduces draconian penalties, including the death penalty for vaguely defined offenses such as “collaborating with the enemy” or “threatening the peace.” Furthermore, it imposes prison sentences of up to 25 years for anyone who criticizes or advocates resistance to the recruitment campaign.
The faction also employs collective punishment, such as the detention and harassment of the parents and young children of those who attempt to evade conscription or desert.
Documented accounts indicate that the faction has converted local administrative offices, schools, and jails into arbitrary holding facilities.
These locations are used to detain abducted civilians before they are transported to remote military training camps. The severe breakdown of security resulting from these tactics has forced many residents to flee the region to save their families, adding to the growing humanitarian and economic toll on local communities.
Human Rights Watch has emphasized that this mobilization bears alarming similarities to the national service system in Eritrea, characterized by indefinite service, restrictions on movement, and harsh punitive measures against critics.
In its statement, the organization has called for an immediate halt to these forced recruitment practices and the withdrawal of the illegal proclamation.
This persistent belligerence continues despite the federal government’s unwavering commitment to peaceful political dialogue and its persistent efforts to integrate all stakeholders into the national recovery process.
By repeatedly spurning these formal calls for peace in favor of inciting conflict and militarizing the population, the defunct group has demonstrated a complete disregard for the well-being of the region and the country, actively undermining the stability that the nation has worked so hard to secure.
It is worth recalling that the United States has joined the growing international condemnation of the faction’s belligerence and its attempts to dismantle the peace process. Washington has responded by imposing targeted visa restrictions on the group’s “hardliners” and their immediate families, signaling that such destabilizing actions—which violate the Pretoria Agreement—will be met with strict accountability.
Meanwhile, the European Union has voiced deep concern over the deteriorating political and security situation in northern Ethiopia, explicitly identifying the defunct TPLF’s establishment of a parallel regional council and its unilateral enforcement of military conscription as direct breaches of the 2022 Pretoria Cessation of Hostilities Agreement.
These measures reflect a deepening resolve to isolate the faction for its persistent refusal to abandon its campaign of violence.