Gebru and Shewit are among young men who left Ethiopia’s Tigray region for Addis Ababa, fearing forced recruitment. Human Rights Watch says it documented forced recruitment of civilians, including children as young as 15; the TPLF disputes the claims.
Gebru says he was taken from his neighbourhood to a local administration office with other young men; his parents paid 20,000 birr ($123) to secure his release, and he then left for Addis Ababa. Shewit also left for the capital, leaving his university studies, language-class business and siblings behind.
Human Rights Watch said in July that Tigrayan authorities and forces had forcibly recruited civilians since at least April, including children as young as 15, documenting cases of people taken from streets, homes, workplaces and mining areas. The group said a June mobilisation proclamation criminalised desertion and relatives’ efforts to prevent conscription. The TPLF says young people were joining voluntarily. The 2022 African Union-brokered Pretoria Agreement ended two years of war but left contested territory, the return of displaced people and disarmament unresolved.
