Ethiopia announces interim Tigray administration, plans polls in six months

Ethiopia's federal government will establish an interim administration in Tigray for six months, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced Friday, with the stated goal of enabling free and transparent elections. Abiy's office said on social media that the caretaker body, approved in a cabinet decision, would work to create “a stable political situation so that free and transparent elections can be held.” The announcement came after federal forces reversed a major offensive by the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) that began on September 23, pushing the rebels out of strongholds including the regional capital.

Abiy's office accused the TPLF leadership of not wanting peace and of starting the latest “devastating war.” In late September, the TPLF formed an uneasy alliance with several disparate armed groups opposed to the government, and it has also moved closer to neighbouring Eritrea, which has long been at odds with Ethiopia.

Tigray had been outside Addis Ababa's control and did not participate in June federal elections, which were resoundingly won by Abiy's Prosperity Party. The region previously fought a 2020-22 war against federal forces supported by Eritrean troops, a conflict estimated to have left 600,000 dead before a 2022 peace deal ended the fighting. That agreement provoked lingering discontent over its terms.

In its statement, Abiy's office said Tigray's people must “break free from the cycle of conflict” in order to enjoy the peace that has eluded them, ensure their right to self-governance and benefit from development they have been deprived of for several years. The interim administration is set to govern Tigray for the next six months.