The Tigray People's Liberation Front reconstituted its pre-war regional council and elected chairman Debretsion Gebremichael as regional president, setting up competing claims to regional authority under the 2022 Pretoria Agreement.
The council, dissolved under the Pretoria Agreement between the federal government and the TPLF, resumed work after nearly three and a half years at its sixth regular session on Tuesday. Kiros Hagos was elected speaker and Mihret Berhe deputy speaker of the reconstituted body.
The TPLF announced the move citing alleged violations of the Pretoria deal by the federal government. The decision comes nearly two weeks after the federal government extended the mandate of Lt. General Tadesse Werede, head of the Tigray Interim Administration, by one year.
172 members of the former Tigray State Council convened in Mekelle on April 27 and voted to restore the governing body that had administered the region following the TPLF's disputed 2020 election. The National Electoral Board of Ethiopia never recognized that election, which Addis Ababa declared illegal after postponing national polls due to the pandemic.
The reconstitution creates a direct institutional clash with two administrations now claiming authority in Tigray. Debretsion Gebremichael, who served as regional president before the 2020-2022 war, returns to lead the region as the TPLF's wartime chairman reasserts political control. Meanwhile, Lt. General Tadesse Werede continues to head the federally backed interim administration established in 2023.
The competing claims raise immediate questions about which administration controls budgetary transfers, civil service appointments, and physical government buildings in Mekelle. The TPLF cites continued presence of non-federal armed groups in disputed western areas of Tigray and delays in restoring full budgetary transfers as violations justifying their action.
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Federal officials have not issued a formal response to the council's reconstitution. Lt. General Tadesse Werede told local media last week he has "no intention of leaving Mekelle." The federally backed interim president had warned shortly before the TPLF session that the region stands on "a very narrow path between peace and war."
The TPLF initially announced its unilateral decision to reinstate the regional council last month, less than two weeks after the federal government announced the interim administration's mandate extension. The Tigray Interim Administration was established in 2023 following the signing of the Pretoria Agreement in November 2022, which ended two years of fighting between federal forces and the TPLF.
The move represents the most significant challenge to the Pretoria Agreement since its signing. The TPLF argues the 2020 council remains the region's legitimate governing body, while the federal government maintains the Pretoria Agreement provides the sole legal framework governing Tigray's transition. The party objects to the federal government's unilateral extension of the interim administration's mandate.
The reconstitution marks a critical test of Ethiopia's fragile post-war settlement. The Pretoria Agreement formally dissolved the pre-war council and established interim federal oversight as part of the peace process. By reinstating the dissolved body, the TPLF effectively rejects the legal framework that ended one of Africa's deadliest recent conflicts. The standoff creates competing institutional claims with no clear constitutional resolution mechanism.
