Addis Ababa, October 15, 2026 (FMC) — Throughout its long history, the Ethiopian people have upheld the enduring values of coexistence, collective resilience in the face of adversity and mutual support as foundations for shared development.
Within this historic tradition, the people of the Tigray Region have made invaluable contributions to Ethiopia’s unity, sovereignty and economic progress.
Yet, for years, the illegal TPLF group has betrayed this proud legacy, sacrificing the interests of the people of the Tigray Region to its own lust for power and narrow group interests.
It has dragged a great people into an unjust cycle of war, insecurity and suffering, turning their lives into instruments for preserving its political survival.
Since its removal from power, the illegal TPLF group has shown no genuine willingness to accommodate Ethiopia’s national reform process or give peace a chance.
Instead, it has continued to pursue a destructive course that threatens the constitutional order, the sovereignty of the country and the bonds of unity among its peoples.
The people of the Tigray Region have been its principal instrument in advancing this destructive agenda.
While shielding their own lives and the interests and security of their families, the group’s leaders have ruthlessly sent the children and young people of poor families to the battlefront, prolonging their hold on power at the expense of an entire generation.
Rather than harnessing the potential of the region’s youth for education, development and innovation, they have entrenched a culture of war, robbing young people of hope and prospects for a better future.
The group has subjected farmers to intimidation and pressure, threatening them unless they sent their children to fight. Countless young people, including minors, were thrown into the flames of war without adequate training.
The consequences have been devastating: mothers have lost their children, elderly people have been left without support, children have been deprived of parental care, and the region’s social and economic life has suffered severe disruption.
The federal government and Ethiopian elders repeatedly extended the hand of peace, recognizing the destructive consequences of continued conflict.
Yet the illegal TPLF group persisted in closing the doors to peaceful solutions. Fearing that peace would bring its political existence to an end, it treated peace initiatives as signs of weakness and refused to embrace opportunities for reconciliation.
The heaviest price has been paid by the people of the Tigray Region themselves—by mothers and fathers mourning their children, by young people whose futures have been sacrificed, and by children and elderly people left to endure the consequences of a conflict they did not choose.
The Ethiopian government’s position has consistently been that the people of the Tigray Region must remain an integral part of the country’s development and prosperity, with their rights to peace, development and equality respected. The people of the region are not the enemy.
They are part of Ethiopia’s shared destiny, and their future must not remain hostage to the destructive ambitions of an illegal group.
Recent law-enforcement measures have opened the way for the people of the Tigray Region to free themselves from the yoke of this destructive group and begin breathing the air of peace once again.
Enabling them to break free from the illegal TPLF group’s destructive agenda and return to peaceful life has been the aspiration and effort of the government and the Ethiopian people as a whole.
The demise of the illegal TPLF group’s destructive agenda must mark a turning point for the people of the Tigray Region.
Their historic dignity, their rightful place in Ethiopia’s national life and their enduring bonds with their fellow Ethiopians must prevail over the politics of division, coercion and war.
The people of the Tigray Region have a future beyond the illegal TPLF group.
By standing for peace, the rule of law and shared development, they can renew their historic ties with the wider Ethiopian family and move forward toward a future defined not by conflict and destruction, but by dignity, opportunity and common prosperity.