Tigrayan Female Soldiers Experienced Sexual Abuse from Their Own Commanders

 The New Humanitarian published on 16 July 2026 an article titled "As War Fears Grow in Ethiopia, Women Soldiers Recount the Sexual Violence They Experienced" by Mehret Okubay Berehe and Hilary Matfess.

During the 2020-2022 conflict in Tigray, females suffered sexual violence by Ethiopian federal government forces, Eritrean Defense Forces, and Amhara militia.  This article, however, focuses on sexual abuse of female Tigrayan soldiers at the hands of commanders and officers in the Tigray Defense Force, the organization where they served.  

Ethiopia: Tigray Since the Pretoria Agreement

The Rift Valley Institute published in March 2026 a study titled "Peace and Instability: Tigray since the Pretoria Agreement."

The analysis examines the post-2022 period in Tigray following the Pretoria Agreement, which halted large-scale fighting but left key drivers of conflict unresolved.  It highlights how territorial disputes, political exclusion, and stalled processes have created a fragile peace, with the risk of renewed large-scale conflict remaining.  

War in Ethiopia's Tigray Region Averted for Time Being

 The AEI's Critical Threats Africa File posted on 9 April 2026 an article titled "Ethiopia - Tigray" by Michael DeAngelo and Liam Karr.

The Ethiopian Federal Government extended the mandate of the Tigray Interim Administration (TIA) by one year on 8 April.  This may buy time for both sides and avert a return to war in Tigray Region.  

The Case for Genocide in Ethiopia's War in Tigray

 

Tghat, a Tigrayan media platform devoted to the war in Tigray, published on 18 February 2026 a commentary titled "Why Eritrea Committed Genocide in Tigray" by Desta Haileselassie Hagos, Howard University.  

The author argues that the 2020-2022 war in Ethiopia's Tigray Region was an effort by the federal government of Ethiopia and the government of Eritrea to destroy Tigray and eradicate its people.  

This is a much longer account of the arguments made by the author published by Ethiopia Insight and reposted below on 17 February.  

Is Ethiopia Preparing for War?

 AEI's Critical Threats Africa File published on 25 February 2026 an analysis titled "Ethiopia Prepares for War: Africa File Special Edition" by Michael DeAngelo, Liam Karr, and Anahita Asudani.

The analysis concludes that the Ethiopian federal government will likely launch an offensive against the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) within the next month to neutralize the TPLF and its role in an emerging, loose anti-Ethiopian federal government coalition consisting of Eritrea, the TPLF, and other Amhara and Oromo ethnic nationalist groups.  

Ethiopia and Eritrea Play Cat and Mouse Along Border

 Ethiopia's Institute of Foreign Affairs published on 11 February 2026 an article titled "Ethiopia's Diplomacy, Eritrea's Escalation, and the Future of the Horn of Africa" by Bemnet Alemayehu.  

Ethiopia's minister of foreign affairs sent a letter on 7 February to his counterpart in Eritrea expressing serious concern over Eritrea's military penetration deeper into Ethiopia's northeastern border areas.  Ethiopia charged the troops violate the country's territorial integrity and demanded their immediate withdrawal. At the same time, Ethiopia called for diplomatic engagement to avoid reciprocal military escalation.

Ethiopia Insight published on 23 February 2026 a commentary titled "Ethiopia's Ambiguous Letter Said More Than It Stated" by Dahilon Yassin Mohamoda. 

The author raises interesting questions about the substance and form of the letter.   

A facsimile of the 7 February letter between the two foreign ministers has been posted online.  Read it and decide for yourself what kind of message Ethiopia is sending to Eritrea and the world.  Is the letter an example of what Professor Don Levine called Ethiopia's Amharic tradition of "Wax and Gold?"  

Ethiopia: Transitional Justice in Tigray

 Ethiopia Insight published on 17 December 2025 a commentary titled "Why Transitional Justice for Tigray Is a Fiction" by Gidey Amare, a public servant in the health sector.

The Pretoria Agreement section on transitional justice for Tigray was predicated on the idea that the Ethiopian federal government, which was accused of many of the violations, would investigate itself.  The author argues that this was never realistic and the current policy cannot deliver justice for Tigray.  

Waging Peace in Ethiopia's Tigray Region

 Ethiopia Insight published on 19 November 2025 a commentary titled "Waging Peace in Tigray, a Land Haunted by War" by Mohammedawel Hagos, Worabe University.

As the Pretoria Agreement unravels, the path forward in Tigray Region is threatened not just by the tension but by a political culture still in the grip of a stifling party-state and collective trauma.  The author calls for internal Tigrayan reconciliation as the only route to a peaceful future.  

Female Tigray War Veterans Fear Being Left Behind

 World Politics Review published on 28 August 2025 a commentary titled "In Post-War Ethiopia, Tigray's Female Veterans Fear Being Left Behind" by Mehret Berhe and Hilary Matfess.

Women comprised 20 to 30 percent of the Tigrayan Defense Forces during the recent civil war.  Female veterans are concerned that they will not receive help in reintegrating into civilian life while victims of sexual violence doubt the perpetrators will be brought to justice.

Eritrean Defense Forces Intervention in Ethiopia's Tigray Region

 The Sentry published in June 2025 a report titled "Power and Plunder: The Eritrean Defense Forces Intervention in Tigray."

The war in Ethiopia's Tigray Region resulted in a humanitarian crisis of immense proportions.  War crimes were perpetrated by all parties to the conflict, but the nature of atrocities and war profiteering carried out by the Eritrean Defense Forces (EDF) was unmatched in scale and premeditation.  The EDF engaged in massacres, widespread sexual violence, and systematic looting, including of Tigrayan factory machinery, medical supplies and equipment, and cultural antiquities.      

Is a Tigray Region-Eritrea Alliance in the Cards?

 Ethiopia Insight published on 20 August 2025 a commentary titled "Strategic Reversals: Abiy's Miscalculation and the Tigray-Eritrea Realignment" by Yonas Nigussie, political economist.

The author argues that Tigray Region, sidelined by the collapse of the Pretoria Agreement, is fighting for survival.  Eritrea, haunted by fears of Ethiopian expansionism, seeks a strategic buffer.  Internal power struggles have fractured the Tigray People's Liberation Front.  One Tigrayan faction has signaled its willingness to align with Eritrea in an unholy alliance against the federal government of Ethiopia.  This could spark another bloody civil war.

Eritrean President Emerges as Winner of Ethiopia's Civil War

 The Sentry published in June 2025 an extensive report titled "Power and Plunder: The Eritrean Defense Forces Intervention in Tigray."

This account documents Eritrean Defense Force support for the Ethiopian National Defense Force in their joint war to topple the Tigrayan Defense Force in Tigray Region from late 2020 until the signing of the Pretoria Agreement in 2022.  The study concludes that Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki has emerged as the clear winner of the post-conflict status quo.  

Ethiopia: Tigray's Hijacked Transition

 Ethiopia Insight published on 14 May 2025 a commentary titled "Tigray's Hijacked Transition" by Weldeslassie Hailai Abera, University of KwaZulu-Natal.  

The author argues that a faction led by Debretsion Gebremichael led an "illegitimate power grab" of the Tigray People's Liberation Front.  He concludes that Tigray's future depends on a fundamental shift: bringing the Tigray Defense Forces under civilian control, dismantling ethnic-based patronage, and empowering youth and the diaspora.  

Human Rights Accountability Needed in Ethiopia

 Foreign Policy published on 27 March 2025 a commentary titled "Tigray Needs Justice for Peace to Hold" by Azeem Ibrahim and Annika Weis.

The normalization of relations with Ethiopia has diminished international pressure for accountability of human rights abuses during the civil war involving Tigray Region.  The international community should renew efforts to establish an independent criminal investigation.

Starvation as a Weapon of War: Lessons from Ethiopia's Tigray Conflict

 Stimson published on 24 February 2025 a study titled "Preventing Starvation Crimes: Lessons Learned from Tigray" by Shane Goetz.

The international community failed to prevent mass starvation during Ethiopia's civil war centered in Tigray Region in spite of a UN Security Council resolution designed to avoid this situation.  The study concludes that the resolution lacks the tools to generate preventative action and early response to conflict-induced hunger crises or to hold parties accountable for the use of starvation as a method of warfare.

More Concern Over a Possible Ethiopia-Eritrea Conflict

 Foreign Policy published on 12 March 2025 an analysis titled "Stop the Next Ethiopia-Eritrea War Before It Begins" by Payton Knopf and Alexander Rondos.

The deterioration of the political and security situation in Ethiopia's Tigray Region is dry tinder waiting for a match that could ignite a war between Ethiopia and Eritrea.

Addis Ababa accuses Asmara of undermining the Pretoria Agreement that ended the war in Tigray Region and of supporting insurgent groups elsewhere in Ethiopia.  Asmara perceives landlocked Ethiopia's calls for access to the Red Sea as a casus belli and forerunner for efforts to return Eritrea to Ethiopian sovereignty.

New Lines Institute Report Alleges Genocide in Ethiopia's Tigray Region

 The Washington-based New Lines Institute for Strategy and Policy published in June 2024 a 120-page report titled "Genocide in Tigray: Serious Breaches of International Law in the Tigray Conflict, Ethiopia, and Paths to Accountability."  The Washington Institute for Education and Research funds the New Lines Institute whose president and founder is Ahmed Alwani, a businessman based in northern Virginia.  

The document concludes there are multiple, widespread and credible independent reports that the conduct throughout Ethiopia of the federal Ethiopian National Defence Force (ENDF) on behalf of Ethiopia, Amhara regional armed forces and/or Fano militia and loyal groups, the Eritrean Defence Forces (EDF), as well as the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front (TPLF), Tigray Defence Forces (TPLF) and those loyal to them, violated international humanitarian law and international human rights law.

There is reasonable basis to believe that such violations amount to the commission of war crimes and/or crimes against humanity.  The report also concludes there is a reasonable basis to believe that members of the ENDF, the Amhara Special Forces, and the EDF committed genocide against Tigrayans.  

Ethiopia's Tigray Region Continues to Face Humanitarian Emergency

 Refugees International published a report dated March 2024 titled "Scars of War and Depravations: An Urgent Call to Reverse Tigray's Humanitarian Crisis" by Sarah Miller.   

The report argues that aid has not scaled up to meet the need of Tigray Region's internally displaced people (IDP).  If relief does not come, many will die, and some even fear that the fragile Pretoria Peace Agreement could be in jeopardy.  Much of the region remains in dire straits, and many IDPs are languishing in very difficult conditions.  

Ethiopia Hopes to Sweep Human Rights Abuses under the Rug

 Foreign Policy published on 27 February 2024 a commentary titled "Ethiopia's Reconciliation Policy Is a Farce" by Aaron Maasho and Martin Witteveen.  

The authors argue that the International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia provided a far more valid report on the situation in Tigray Region than did the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission.  They add that the Ethiopian government is not prepared to take any action to deal with the human rights abuses.  

Ethiopia: Tigray Region is Unrecognizable

 Ethiopia Insight published on 30 January 2024 a commentary titled "Four Years Later, Tigray Is Unrecognizable" by an anonymous author.  

This report is based on a visit by an Ethiopian to his/her home in Tigray Region during October 2023.  The civil service barely functions.  Ethnic relations are complicated and often tense.  Grieving remains widespread and unemployment is high.