TPLF’s ‘Unholy Alliance’ With Asmara and Other Anti-Government Forces Is a Prescription for Disaster, PM Adviser Warns

Addis Ababa, August 9, 2026 (FMC) — The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) has entered a dangerous new phase by openly aligning itself with forces opposed to Ethiopia’s federal government and turning away from a peaceful resolution of political differences, Ethiopian Prime Minister’s Adviser on East African Affairs Getachew Reda warned.

In a lengthy statement posted last night, Getachew said the rogue TPLF leadership had spent months denying that it was entering into an alliance with internal and external forces hostile to the federal government, but had now publicly acknowledged a shift toward force.

He said the group’s stated objective had moved beyond the peaceful implementation of the Pretoria Peace Agreement, including the restoration of Tigray’s constitutionally mandated territory, toward the removal of the federal government in Addis Ababa.

Getachew cited a declaration by the head of the TPLF secretariat that the security of the people of Tigray could only be assured through the demise of the Prosperity Party-led government. He described the position as an alarming distortion of political responsibility, arguing that a leadership entrusted with protecting its constituency should not make the survival of its own people conditional on the destruction of a government.

The adviser said the illegal TPLF’s emerging alignment with the Eritrean regime in Asmara and other forces opposed to Addis Ababa was no longer something that could be dismissed as political rhetoric. He argued that the group had effectively acknowledged what it had long denied: cooperation with actors seeking to confront the federal government by force.

According to Getachew, the objective being pursued through the alliance is not simply the fuller implementation of the Pretoria agreement, but the overthrow of the federal government. He warned that such an agenda would carry consequences far beyond the political actors pursuing it, putting the peace and security of Tigray, Ethiopia and the wider Horn of Africa at risk.

He said the composition of the emerging alliance was particularly troubling because it brings together actors with interests opposed to the Pretoria peace framework and to Ethiopia’s federal government.

Recent fighting in Shererina, he argued, offered a warning of what could follow. Getachew said the weapons and ammunition captured during the engagement pointed to military preparations inconsistent with efforts to preserve peace.

“Peace cannot survive hidden military maneuvers,” he said, warning that covert transfers of heavy military equipment into Tigray or other parts of Ethiopia represent a “clear and present danger” to stability efforts across the Horn of Africa.

The adviser said the loss of lives during the brief confrontation demonstrated how quickly such brinkmanship could produce deadly consequences. He warned that a wider conflict would exact an even heavier price from civilians in Tigray and across Ethiopia.

Getachew also directed a pointed appeal to members of the Tigray armed forces, urging them to place the survival and peace of their communities above the political survival of leaders whom he accused of repeatedly treating war as a means of preserving their own political relevance.

He called on rank-and-file forces to reject another cycle of bloodshed and use whatever remaining opportunities exist to resolve the fundamental questions facing the people of Tigray peacefully.

The former President of the Tigray Interim Regional Administration was particularly critical of the reported alignment between the TPLF and the Eritrean regime, arguing that President Isaias Afwerki was seeking to use Tigray as a buffer zone against what he characterized as a largely perceived threat from the federal government.

He warned that such a strategy would place the lives of mothers and children in Tigray and Amhara at the mercy of a broader geopolitical confrontation.

Despite his stark assessment of the illegal group’s current direction, Getachew called for continued restraint by the federal government. He urged the government to remain committed to the full implementation of the Pretoria agreement, withstand provocations without abandoning restraint, and keep every possible avenue for peace open.

He also called on the international community to act before military preparations develop into another full-scale conflict. His recommendations included satellite and ground-level monitoring of cross-border activity, accountability for political and military actors whose actions provoke conflict, protection of civilians and greater transparency from all armed forces operating in the region.

“Silence in the face of preparations for war is complicity,” Getachew said, urging international actors to take preventive action rather than respond only after renewed violence has erupted.

The statement places the TPLF’s reported alliance-building and military posture at the center of a broader warning about the fragility of peace in the Horn, while urging the federal government and international actors to keep the Pretoria framework and peaceful settlement at the forefront.