The Tigray People's Liberation Front on April 8 accused the federal government of violating the Pretoria Agreement by unilaterally extending the Tigray Interim Administration for one year, calling on international mediators to intervene.
The TPLF said in a public statement that the decision to extend the tenure of Lt. Gen. Tadesse Werede, head of the Tigray Interim Administration, was made without bilateral political dialogue and without the knowledge or participation of the party. The statement said the TPLF learned of the extension from state media reports, not through direct consultation.
The Office of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced the extension effective April 9, 2026, citing provisions of the FDRE Constitution and relevant proclamations. The announcement followed Lt. Gen. Tadesse presenting an annual performance report to the Prime Minister on April 7. The Council of Ministers approved the extension, as The Abay Times reported on April 8.
The TPLF's statement centered on a procedural and legal argument: that the Pretoria Agreement, which ended the two-year Tigray war in November 2022, requires governance arrangements for the Tigray region — including the interim administration — to be established and governed through bilateral dialogue between the two signing parties.
The Interim Administration should be established and governed through bilateral dialogue between the two signing parties as stipulated in the Pretoria Agreement.
The party said the federal government instead relied on laws issued prior to the Pretoria Agreement as the legal basis for the extension, bypassing the agreement's framework.
The federal government has not publicly responded to the TPLF's accusation. Its announcement of the extension cited constitutional authority and existing proclamations governing interim regional administrations, without referencing the Pretoria Agreement's provisions on bilateral consultation.
The TPLF called on mediators of the Pretoria Agreement — the African Union led the mediation process that produced the accord — and the broader international community to take note of what it described as a breach of the agreement.
Lt. Gen. Tadesse Werede was first appointed to lead the interim administration on April 8, 2025, replacing Getachew Reda. The current extension marks the second renewal of the interim arrangement, which has now been in place for three years. The TPLF's statement did not outline specific actions the party intends to take beyond its appeal to mediators.
Context: The dispute exposes a fault line that has been widening since the Pretoria Agreement was signed in November 2022. The accord, mediated by the African Union, ended the Tigray conflict and laid out transitional arrangements including an interim administration and a pathway to elections in the region. Elections in Tigray have been repeatedly delayed, and the TPLF has expressed growing frustration over what it characterizes as exclusion from governance decisions affecting the region. The timing of this confrontation is significant: national elections are scheduled for June 2026, and Tigray's electoral readiness remains an unresolved question. Whether the region will participate — and under what political and administrative conditions — is among the most consequential open issues in Ethiopian politics. The TPLF's formal invocation of the Pretoria Agreement and its appeal to external mediators signal that the party views the bilateral framework underpinning the peace process as under strain, raising questions about the accord's durability as the country approaches a critical electoral period.
