Young Men Flee Tigray Fear of Forced Military Recruitment

Young men are running from Tigray right now because they fear forced recruitment. The war ended years ago, yet unresolved tensions still leave young people terrified of being pulled back into fighting. Gebru, 27, was taken from his neighborhood to a local administration office along with other young men. His parents worried he would be sent off to fight and looked for a way to get him out. They eventually paid to secure his release.

"I was taken to the office with other young men," Gebru stated. "My parents found a way to get me released by paying 20,000 [Ethiopian] birr ($123) in cash." After this payment freed him, Gebru left Tigray for Addis Ababa. He told Al Jazeera that his parents were afraid he would be taken again if he stayed. They ordered him to leave and save himself.

Gebru is not alone. Many young men say they are fleeing because they fear being forcibly recruited 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, reports of forced recruitment have raised fresh fears among conflict survivors. The African Union-brokered deal stopped two years of fighting, but key issues like contested territory, the return of displaced people, and the disarmament of Tigrayan forces remain unresolved.

Human Rights Watch reported in July that Tigrayan authorities had forcibly recruited civilians since at least April. This included children as young as 15. The organization documented cases involving former combatants and other men taken from streets, homes, workplaces, and gold-mining areas. These allegations emerge as tensions between the federal government and the TPLF have risen, with both sides accusing each other of military mobilisation. Heavy fighting was also reported near Ethiopia's border with Sudan in August.

For some young men, the response has been to leave before they are taken. Shewit, 24, had been trying to rebuild his life after the war. He studied at Mekelle University and ran a language-class business he started about a year earlier. He also helped look after his younger siblings. But as reports of recruitment increased, staying in Tigray began to feel unsafe.

"I had already survived one war," Shewit told Al Jazeera. "I didn't want to go through another." He eventually left for Addis Ababa, leaving behind his family and his business. He abandoned the siblings who depended on him and a venture he sacrificed so much to build. He says he does not want to return unless he can bring his family with him.

Others remain but carry heavy memories. Gebrehiwot, 28, is still in Tigray. He fought during the previous war but does not want to go back to the battlefield. The experience changed how he viewed the political and military leadership. He saw wounded fighters and families of dead soldiers struggle after the fighting ended.

"We were told that we were fighting for our people," Gebrehiwot said. "But after the war ended, I saw wounded fighters and families of the dead being abandoned." Reports that former combatants were being called back increased his fears. Former friends were taken away forcibly, and he was afraid to be next. He left his hometown and moved to Mekelle hoping not to get identified there. Unlike Shewit and Gebru, he has not left Tigray. But knowing what the battlefield looks like makes another mobilisation difficult for him to contemplate.

I don't want to go back there and risk not coming home." This fear drives young men away from their homes in Tigray.

Human Rights Watch says the recruitment allegations extend beyond former fighters to civilians and youth. Laetitia Bader, the organisation's Horn of Africa director, explained what they found on the ground. "We found that both former fighters but also civilians – young men, sometimes boys – were being abducted, detained," she said. The abductions happen in the streets or marketplaces. They also occur in mining areas, which serves as an important form of livelihood in the region. Bader noted Human Rights Watch documented cases involving minors as young as 15.

A mobilisation proclamation introduced in June criminalised desertion and attempts by relatives to prevent loved ones from being conscripted. For young people who survived the previous war, this forced recruitment is another reason to flee. "The forced conscription continues to have an impact," Bader said. Young people continue to try to flee the region not only because of the forced conscription but also the devastating humanitarian situation in the area.

The TPLF has disputed allegations of forced recruitment, saying young people were joining voluntarily. TPLF spokesman Michael Asgedom previously described the allegations as a "mistaken narrative." Al Jazeera contacted Asgedom for a response to the allegations in this story, but he did not respond to calls or text messages.

Muauz Gidey Alemu, an assistant professor of political science and lead researcher at the Tigray Institute of Policy Studies, said the recruitment should be understood within a broader political and security crisis that followed 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.

Gidey said the agreement had stopped large-scale fighting but had not resolved all the political and security issues surrounding 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. He warned continued mobilisation could create a cycle in which insecurity fuels military recruitment, which then deepens insecurity. "Political insecurity generates military mobilisation; military mobilisation reinforces political insecurity; political insecurity then becomes an argument for further mobilisation," Gidey said.

For the young men interviewed by Al Jazeera, however, the question is less about the political calculations driving mobilisation than about whether they can avoid being pulled back into war. Gebru says leaving became his way of protecting himself. "After what happened, I knew I could not stay there and live normally," he said. "I felt that the only way to protect myself was to leave."

Shewit is now in Addis Ababa, separated from his family and the life he had been rebuilding. "I didn't leave because I wanted to," Shewit admitted. "I left because I wanted to have a chance to build a future." Gebrehiwot remains in Tigray. He says his hopes are simpler. "I don't want anything extraordinary," he stated. "I just want to live peacefully, stay with my family and never have to pick up a gun again.