Twelve senior members of a breakaway faction of the Tigray Defence Forces have been detained for more than a month in Ethiopia’s Afar region without appearing before a court, Human Rights First Ethiopia said in a report on Tuesday. The rights group said six are confined in a police station in Semera, the Afar regional capital, while the other six are being held in Dubti under the custody of an armed group calling itself the “Tigray Peace Force.”
Human Rights First Ethiopia said those held in Semera are Berhane Ebuy, Teame Abraha, Tedros Tamrat, Angesom Abraha, Girum Weldegerima and Berihu Gebremedhin, while those in Dubti include Shewit Bitew, Daniel Teklay, Fikadu Gidey, Daniel Kidane, Gidey Abraha and Capital Hadgu.
“Their detention without court appearance is a violation of Ethiopian law and international human rights standards,” the group said. It urged Afar authorities to investigate the cases, prosecute if evidence exists, and release those held unlawfully. It also called on the armed group to follow legal procedures and warned group would be held responsible for the safety of the detainees.
The detainees are among the founders of an armed faction that split from the TDF after the Tigray People’s Liberation Front and allied TDF elements forcibly retook control of several local administrations across Tigray, ousting officials of the interim administration led by Getachew Reda in March 2025. The faction has since declared its intention to overthrow the TPLF.
The reasons behind the arrests remains unclear. However some say they are detained because they resisted affiliating with any political party and opposed attempts by former senior TDF commanders to take over the newly armed groups in Afar. While others allege the detainees were recruited by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front with significant financial backing, suggesting their loyalty lay with outside actors rather than the breakaway faction.
The Afar regional government and representatives of the “Tigray Peace Force” were not immediately available for comment.