Statement from the Central Committee of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front
The people of Tigray and its leading party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), driven by their principled belief in peace, have been making unremitting efforts to implement the Pretoria Agreement and transition it to a lasting peace agreement. Thus, they have carried out all the obligations to be fulfilled by Tigray under the agreement— some ahead of the specified schedule—doing their part to create better trust. Above all, the people of Tigray—by setting aside their right to be administered by the government they elected, for which they paid dearly and which affirmed their sovereign ownership of power—have been administered by an interim administration for the past three years.
The Ethiopian government, on the other hand, having deemed as weakness the pleas and patience of the people of Tigray and giving them a deaf ear, has been using the agreement as an instrument of genocide in another form. After the agreement, the Ethiopian government did not fulfill the obligations it is directly expected to fulfill. Instead of withdrawing the forces that have invaded the constitutional sovereign territory of Tigray, it is strengthening them in various ways. Thus, our people living under the occupation of the invading forces are being killed, arrested, and expelled because of their identity. Our people living in shelters, who are dying of hunger and disease every day, have not been able to return to their homeland. By denying recognition to our party, which is a signatory to the Pretoria Agreement, it is depriving the agreement of a foundation and using it to weaken and disrupt Tigray organizations.
The Ethiopian government has not only failed to fulfill its obligations under the agreement but, in complete contradiction to the agreement, it has organized and armed bandits—to get Tigray people to spill blood among themselves and continue to remain in chaos—and, by deploying them up front and opening fire on Tigray Forces, has carried out drone strikes on border areas as well as in central Tigray.
Furthermore, by passing resolutions that cut off the constitutional sovereign territories of Tigray and left our people dispersed, by cutting off or disrupting services that had been limitedly restored after the Pretoria Agreement, by denying budget, including salaries of civil servants, and by generally imposing siege and encirclement on Tigray, and by mobilizing its forces and its main mechanized capabilities near Tigray, it is in a hurry to launch a bloody war once again. By this, it has put the welfare and security of the people of Tigray into greater danger.
In general, despite the people of Tigray and their leading party, the TPLF, paying dearly in the hope of exhausting opportunities for peace, they have only prolonged [the agreement]; for the Ethiopian government, having openly breached it since the aftermath of the Agreement, has long completely annulled it [Pretoria Agreement]. As a continuation of its actions, it has officially announced, through a unilateral decision, that it has extended the term of the Tigray interim administration in violation of the agreement and without the participation or knowledge of our party, the TPLF, by citing a law approved before the Pretoria Agreement.
Accordingly, the TPLF Central Committee, in the regular meeting it held from 15 to 16 April 2026, after discussing in depth and breadth the implementation of the Pretoria Agreement and the current situation, has decided to restore the assembly [parliament] of the Tigray government, which had been suspended for the sake of peace, which is the expression of our people’s sovereign authority and the decisiveness of our people, and which was elected by around 2.8 million people.
Furthermore, although the responsibility belongs to the Tigray Government’s Assembly, an understanding has also been reached that the executive body of the Tigray Government should be established in an inclusive manner involving the Mekete [resistance] capabilities.
The next agenda the Central Committee of our party, the TPLF, discussed is regarding the friendship that the people of Tigray should have with other peoples. Accordingly, it has decided that our people should strengthen their friendship more than ever with the peoples of neighboring regions, other peoples of Ethiopia, and the peoples of neighboring countries.
Finally, by reaching an understanding that the people of Tigray and their leading party, the TPLF, are still ready to resolve all differences with the Ethiopian government through dialogue and negotiation, and by setting a directive for the resolutions which the Central Committee of our party passed to be discussed and enriched among all our members, our entire people living at home and abroad, as well as Tigrayan elites and various Tigrayan organizations, it has concluded its regular meeting.
Following this, the leadership council of Tigray’s resistance capabilities, in a meeting it held on 17–18 April 2026 based on agendas discussed and resolutions passed by the TPLF Central Committee, after adding constructive ideas that strengthen the agendas, has expressed its support for the decision of the Central Committee of our party, the TPLF.
The Central Committee of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front expresses its strong confidence that the entire people, the leadership, and members of our party at all levels will stand by the side of your party, the TPLF, and, as always, play a crucial role in the implementation of these decisions.
Resistance for national survival!
Eternal honor and glory to our martyrs!
Central Committee of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front
April 19, 2026
TPLF Official Facebook page
Martin Plaut 