Young men are leaving Ethiopia’s Tigray region amid fears of forced recruitment as political and military tensions rise, with some conflict survivors saying they fear being drawn back into war.
Gebru, 27, said he was taken with other young men to a local administration office. His parents paid 20,000 Ethiopian birr (£123) to secure his release, he said, after fearing he would be sent to fight.
“I was taken to the office with other young men. My parents found a way to get me released by paying 20,000 [Ethiopian] birr ($123) in cash,” he said.
After his release, Gebru left Tigray for Addis Ababa. He said his parents feared he would be taken again.
“After what happened, I knew I could not stay there and live normally. I felt that the only way to protect myself was to leave,” he said.
Young men flee Tigray amid recruitment fears
The departures come nearly four years after the Pretoria Agreement ended the war between Ethiopia’s federal government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). But disputes over contested territory, the return of displaced people and the disarmament of Tigrayan forces remain unresolved.
Human Rights Watch reported in July that Tigrayan authorities and forces had forcibly recruited civilians, including children as young as 15, since at least April. It said people had been taken from streets, homes, workplaces and gold-mining areas.
Laetitia Bader, the organisation’s Horn of Africa director, said cases involved former fighters as well as civilians and young people.
“We found that both former fighters but also civilians – young men, sometimes boys – were being abducted, detained,” she said. “Sometimes in the streets, in marketplaces, also in mining areas which is an important form of livelihood in the region.”
Human Rights Watch also said a mobilisation proclamation introduced in June criminalised desertion and attempts by relatives to prevent loved ones from being conscripted.
The allegations have emerged as the federal government and the TPLF accuse each other of military mobilisation. Heavy fighting was also reported near Ethiopia’s border with Sudan in August.
The TPLF has disputed claims of forced recruitment, saying young people were joining voluntarily. Its spokesman, Michael Asgedom, previously described the allegations as a “mistaken narrative”.
Survivors fear a return to the battlefield
Shewit, 24, left Tigray for Addis Ababa after reports of recruitment and mobilisation made him feel unsafe. He had been studying at Mekelle University, running a language-class business and helping care for his younger siblings.
“I had already survived one war. I didn’t want to go through another,” he said.
Shewit said he had left behind his family, studies and business. He does not want to return unless he can bring his family and siblings with him.
“I didn’t leave because I wanted to. I left because I wanted to have a chance to build a future,” he said.
Gebrehiwot, 28, remains in Tigray but said his experience of the previous war had left him unwilling to fight again. He said he had seen wounded fighters and the families of dead soldiers struggle after the conflict ended.
“We were told that we were fighting for our people, but after the war ended, I saw wounded fighters and families of the dead being abandoned,” he said.
Gebrehiwot said former combatants had been called back to the army and that he had heard some were taken forcibly. He moved from his hometown to Mekelle, hoping not to be identified.
“I know what the battlefield looks like. I don’t want to go back there and risk not coming home,” he said.
Muauz Gidey Alemu, an assistant professor of political science and lead researcher at the Tigray Institute of Policy Studies, said the recruitment allegations reflected a wider political and security crisis following the Pretoria Agreement.
“The emergence of forced conscription at this particular moment should not be understood simply as a military recruitment exercise,” he said. “It is better understood as a symptom of the deeper political and security crisis that has developed around the incomplete implementation of the Pretoria Cessation of Hostilities Agreement.”
He said the agreement had stopped large-scale fighting but had not resolved all the political and security issues of the post-war period.
“The present situation demonstrates that Pretoria produced an effective cessation of large-scale warfare but an incomplete peace settlement,” he said.
For those who survived the earlier conflict, the immediate concern is avoiding another mobilisation. Gebrehiwot said he wanted only to live peacefully with his family.
“I don’t want anything extraordinary. I just want to live peacefully, stay with my family and never have to pick up a gun again.”
