By Professor Jan Nyssen, Emeritus Senior Full Professor, Department of Geography, Ghent University Belgium. Republished with authorisation

A new and deeply concerning development from Tigray: the Ethiopian Ministry of Education has announced the temporary relocation of students from Tigray’s public universities to universities elsewhere in Ethiopia, while also offering relocation to staff who wish to leave Tigray.

The measure is particularly difficult to understand because no evidence has been presented that the Tigray universities themselves constitute a security threat. Mekelle University has now formally responded to the Ministry, explaining that the Kwiha Meles Technology Campus has not been used for teaching since 2021: it was severely damaged during the war and subsequently used for war rehabilitation and, after the Pretoria agreement, as a centre for Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR). The university has asked the Ministry to allow student placement to continue on the basis of the actual situation of its operational campuses.

In Tigray, the measure is causing considerable concern. Many students feel safe only at universities within Tigray, with some exceptions, particularly students who have close family in Addis Ababa or elsewhere. There are also very practical questions: how are thousands of students supposed to travel out of Tigray, when transport is both extremely expensive and risky in view of the region’s continuing blockade?

The measure is likely to create panic and a sense of hopelessness. In the longer term, drying up Tigray’s universities would remove one of the few remaining spaces offering younger generations a perspective beyond the continuing crisis. One only has to imagine what this means for students currently in secondary school who are looking towards university as their future. It also raises fundamental questions about the future of the region if locally rooted education and research are progressively removed from Tigray.

The timing is particularly worrying. Locally, the move is being interpreted by some as potentially connected to preparations for renewed military action by the Ethiopian army (ENDF). I cannot confirm that interpretation, but it adds to the seriousness of the development.