The TPLF is a political and armed movement based in Tigray, a northern region of Ethiopia whose capital is Mekelle. It dominated Ethiopian politics for nearly three decades before Abiy Ahmed took office in 2018.
A civil war between the TPLF and the Ethiopian government raged from 2020 to 2022, in which hundreds of thousands of people may have been killed. Eritrea sent tens of thousands of troops to fight alongside the Ethiopian army. In November 2022 Western and African officials forced the two sides to come to terms. Three years on, the deal has all but collapsed: in November 2025 the TPLF accused Abiy's government of "openly breaching" it by launching drone strikes against Tigrayan targets, following clashes between Tigrayan forces and militias aligned with the federal government in neighbouring Afar. Abiy has halted federal funding to the region, accusing Tigray's government of spending scarce resources on troops and arms.
In March 2025 one faction of the TPLF, backed by its armed forces, forcibly removed Tigray's interim president—deemed too conciliatory towards Abiy—and installed a general in his place. Disaffected Tigrayan soldiers decamped to the Afar region, where they formed an anti-TPLF militia with the covert support of Ethiopia's government. They have frequently skirmished with their former comrades in Tigray.
Relations between the TPLF and Isaias Afwerki, Eritrea's dictator, have a long and bloody history. The TPLF-led Ethiopian army trounced Eritrea in a border war from 1998 to 2000, leaving Isaias with an enduring hatred for the group. He sent troops into Tigray in 2020 to fight alongside Abiy, and they committed widespread atrocities. Yet since Abiy's reconciliation with the TPLF appeared to falter, Isaias and the TPLF have struck a tactical alliance against Abiy, who is now seen as the bigger threat to Eritrea's sovereignty. Tigrayan and Eritrean commanders have been in frequent contact for more than a year.
On January 29th 2026 TPLF forces unexpectedly crossed the Tekeze river into Tselemti, triggering the Ethiopian government to suspend all flights to Tigray and launch drone strikes deep in central Tigray. Tadesse Werede, Tigray's interim president, described the fighting as "something resembling an all-out war" but said his forces had withdrawn, stressing that dialogue was the way forward. The Ethiopian army began moving large quantities of men and guns towards Tigray's borders. Both sides had reasons for caution: the TPLF has been weakened by years of infighting, while Abiy has many enemies, including neighbouring Eritrea, which has grown closer to the TPLF.
Thousands of Tigrayans have fought alongside the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) in Sudan's civil war, including in the battle for Khartoum. Supplied with Sudanese weapons and newly battle-hardened, some have vowed to return and fight for Western Tigray, a region seized by Amhara militias during the 2020-22 war.
Life is like arriving late for a movie, having to figure out what was going on without bothering everybody with a lot of questions, and then being unexpectedly called away before you find out how it ends.