By Prof. Getachew Assefa
The Pretoria Agreement promised peace, territorial restoration, and the safe return of displaced Tigrayans. Yet, over two years and seven months on, Tigray remains fractured, its sovereignty undermined, and countless residents endure dire conditions in displacement camps.
Far from delivering justice and reconciliation, the agreement serves as a facade, allowing Abiy Ahmed’s government to deflect global scrutiny while perpetuating military occupation and political control over Western Tigray and other regions.
The betrayal lies not only in actions taken but in promises deliberately unfulfilled.
Withdrawal of occupying forces? Disregarded.
Safe return of displaced people? Indefinitely stalled.
Recognition of Tigray’s pre-war boundaries? Silently discarded.
This is not peace but calculated containment—a systematic erosion of a region’s rights and dignity, masked as a peace deal.
Pretoria was meant to end suffering, not entrench it.
When agreements preserve injustice rather than resolve it, we must question: Is Abiy Ahmed fostering peace—or refining control and priming for further conflict?