Addis Abeba- Hundreds of internally displaced persons (IDPs) from Western Tigray staged a protest on Wednesday at the Office of the President of the Tigray Interim Administration, demanding immediate repatriation to their areas of origin, which they said remain under the control of forces from the neighboring Amhara region.
The demonstrators, many of whom have lived in camps since the start of Tigray war in 2020, entered the compound after marching from various parts of Mekelle, accusing authorities of failing to act on earlier promises.
"We are dying here; we will die if we go. It is better for us to die in our land," said Mehari Abadi, an IDP from Korarit in Wolkayit Woreda, currently residing in the 70 Kare camp in Mekelle.
According to Mehari, earlier individual demonstrations evolved into a coordinated effort in 2025, when a 60-member committee -- including representatives of Tigrayan refugees in Sudan -- was formed to engage with authorities. He said the committee held several rounds of discussions with regional officials, including at the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) office, but no concrete measures followed.
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"Whenever we explained our desperate situation -- torn tents, shortage of food, no water -- they would say, 'It will be fixed soon,"' Mehari said, adding that the community has seen "no change."
Another protester, Yirga MuluBirhan, who fled his home in Setit Humera in November 2020 to Sudan and later returned to Mekelle when fighting in Sudan also reached IDP camps, said their demand remains unchanged.
"We have no other request," he said, "than to return us to our homes." Yirga, who also serves on the protest coordination committee, added that they had reached out to various authorities and political actors. "We even wrote letters to the opposition," he said, "asking them to help us."
Mehari said Wednesday's protest brought together displaced persons from several camps who marched to the President's Office in Mekelle. According to him, some, particularly mothers, became physically weak due to the heat, prompting the crowd to enter the interim president's office compound.
Mehari told Addis Standard that the President of the Tigray Interim Administration, Gen. Tadesse Worede, was not present at the time. However, he said Deputy President Amanuel Assefa met with around 100 representatives of the group and listened to their concerns.
However, Mehari said they were once again given the same response -- that a solution "will come soon" -- and added that the displaced community rejected the answer and vowed to continue their pressure.
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The protest comes as a three-day peaceful demonstration is set to begin next week in Mekelle and Geneva under the rallying cry "Enough of Spending Rainy Seasons in Tents." The protest, scheduled for June 18 to 20, is organized by the Tsilal Western Tigray Civil Society, a group focused on displaced civilians from the region.
Organizers say the main goal is to demand the return of residents displaced by the two-year war in the Tigray region.
Western Tigray, where most of the IDPs originate from, remains under the control of forces affiliated with the Amhara region and the federal government. It is also where some of the most severe atrocities were committed during the two-year conflict, prompting the U.S. State Department to designate the crimes as "crimes against humanity," including acts of forcible transfer and ethnic cleansing.
Despite the signing of the Pretoria agreement, Human Rights Watch (HRW) and several media outlets, including Addis Standard, have previously documented continued ethnic cleansing, human rights violations, and the forcible expulsion of Tigrayans from the area.
