By Mulugeta Gebregziabher, PhD

Introduction

The Global Society of Tigray Scholars and Professionals (GSTS) was founded with a noble vision: to serve as a non-partisan, autonomous, and not-for-profit global knowledge network dedicated to building a resilient, knowledge-based society in Tigray and beyond. Its mission emphasized science, technology, innovation, research, policy development, and humanitarian work, anchored in transparency and inclusivity. However, GSTS has strayed far from these ideals. This article shows how GSTS evolved from a scholarly platform into a politically entangled entity, culminating in its current incarnation as a four people led GSTS, a faction accused of undermining Tigray’s sovereignty and justice efforts.

Founding Vision and Early Warning Signs

The Post-Pretoria Shift and TIRA#1’s Governance Failure

After the 2022 Pretoria Agreement, GSTS played a decisive role in shaping TIRA’s leadership, reportedly orchestrating the appointment of a former Ethiopian military chief of staff as Vice President, despite his controversial history in TPLF intra-party politics. This maneuver, allegedly coordinated by a few GSTS board members and TPLF Chairman, Debretsion Gebremicheal, marked GSTS’s full immersion in political engineering. Instead of fulfilling its four core mandates, security, humanitarian coordination, transitional justice, and reconstruction, TIRA #1 became mired in power consolidation and factional infighting within TPLF. Worse, it undermined justice efforts by releasing ENDF prisoners accused of war crimes, destroying genocide evidence, and colluding with Abiy Ahmed’s regime against TPLF factions.

Creation of a rogue GSTS faction

Since the ousting of TIRA#1, GSTS leadership has shrunk to a clique of four individuals, dominated by Gebrekidan Gebreselassie, who has overstayed his President position by seven years without elections, after appointing himself interim chairman and handpicking board members. Today, GSTS is no longer a global scholarly society, but a fractured faction led, maneuvered from Germany, Geneva, and Boston. Starting February 2024, this faction has adopted an aggressive posture, issuing letters to Abiy Ahmed, the UN, and EU leaders, accusing TPLF and TDF of violating the Pretoria Agreement and claiming they bear full responsibility for any future war. These statements gaslight the reality: Abiy’s regime has consistently refused to honor its obligations under the agreement while threatening to “eliminate TPLF” and forcibly demobilize TDF.

Resistance and Reform

GSTS no longer represents the values of the broader Tigrayan scholarly community. A petition to remove the current leadership, including those now serving in TIRA #2, has been ignored by President Tadesse and GSTS’s Tigray branch head, Dr. Kiros Guesh. Calls for reform began during the June 2024 GSTS conference and continue today. A new petition seeks to challenge GSTS’s dual registrations in California and Tigray, aiming to reclaim the organization through democratic reform and sideline the Gebrekidan faction.

Complicating this, a new group that calls itself “GSTS Majority” has recently emerged with a press statement that condemns and disowns past press statements of the GSTS and claiming that they have suspended the four faction leaders. The problem with this new group is that it doesn’t have signatories and nobody knows who the actors are except it looks like to be organized from Mekelle by Kiros Guesh who was the lead GSTS officer for the Tigray branch. Sadly, this person is also a TPLF Central Committee member who has conflict of interest to assert any moral ground to claim leadership.

The Danger Ahead

The rogue activities of the GSTS faction are escalating, in concert with ousted TIRA#1 leaders who formed the SIMRET party and are colluding with Abiy’s regime to undermine Tigray’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, and quest for justice. GSTS’s latest press releases, especially the most recent, go beyond advocacy into aggressive, dangerous accusations, at a time when Abiy openly declares “war can start any time” and drones have already killed TDF members and civilians. The fact that this faction failed to condemn these attacks by the Ethiopian government but instead accused the TPLF and TIRA for failing to adhere to COHA shows the dangerous move and activity of the faction.

Conclusion: A Call to Action

GSTS was conceived as a beacon of scholarly intervention to the challenges Tigray and its people faced over the past decades. Today, it risks becoming an instrument of destabilization. Reform is urgent. The larger GSTS membership must act to restore autonomy, transparency, and its founding mission. Failure to transparently act will leave GSTS complicit in efforts that threaten Tigray’s survival and justice. However, this does not mean that TPLF and its operatives interfere in the business of a scholarly organization that should be free from political influence.

Open Call to Sign a Petition to Reform GSTS and Recall GSTS Representatives in TIRA:

We, the undersigned former and current members of the Global Society of Tigray Scholars (GSTS) and other professionals seek to address the issue of legitimate representation within the Tigray Interim Regional Administration and leadership of GSTS.

References

  1. Mulugeta Gebregziabher & Mulugeta Fisseha, GSTS Conference: Lost Opportunity to be a Platform for Inclusive Dialogue, Tghat.com, Sept 10, 2024.
  2. GSTS Mission Report. Building Knowledge-Based Resilient Society, GSTS.org
  3. The Reporter Ethiopia. Averting the Collapse of the Pretoria Accord. Nov 8, 2025
  4. The Reporter Ethiopia. On the Edge Again: Drums of War Blare over Muted Peace Anniversary. Nov 8, 2025
  5. Brakhe. New Regional Party Democratic Solidarity Tigray Receives Temporary Registration Permit from Election Board. https://brakhe.com/new-regional-party-democratic-solidarity-tigray-receives-temporary-registration-permit-from-election-board/
  6. Al Jazeera. Tigray Fighters Enter Afar Region, Stoking Fears of New Conflict. Nov 6, 2025.

About the authors.

Mulugeta Gebregziabher (PhD) is a Peace Laureate of the American Public Health Association and a tenured professor at the Department of Public Health Sciences, Medical University of South Carolina, USA. He is a peace and justice advocate who also contributes viewpoint articles on the current crisis in the horn with focus on Ethiopia. Views are his own. Mulugeta can be reached at his X: @ProfMulugeta or e-mail: mulugeta.gebz@gmail.com