Young men flee Tigray amid fears of forced recruitment

Tigray, Ethiopia – Gebru, 27, says he was taken from his neighbourhood to a local administration office with other young men. His parents feared he would be sent to fight and searched for a way to get him out. They eventually paid to secure his release, he says.

“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.”

“My parents were afraid that if I stayed, I would be taken again. They told me to leave Tigray and save myself.”

Gebru is among young men who say they are leaving Tigray because they fear being forcibly recruited to fight as political and military tensions rise in the northern Ethiopian region.

Nearly four years after the November 2022 Pretoria Agreement ended the war between Ethiopia’s federal government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), reports of forced recruitment and military mobilisation have raised fears among young conflict survivors that they could once again be drawn into fighting.

The African Union-brokered agreement ended two years of war in Tigray, but key issues – including 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. The organisation documented cases involving former combatants and other men and boys who it said were taken from streets, homes, workplaces and gold-mining areas.

The allegations come as tensions between the federal government and the TPLF have risen, with both sides accusing the other of military mobilisation. Heavy fighting was also reported near Ethiopia’s border with Sudan in August.