Witnesses allege forced recruitment of boys in Tigray, Guardian reports

Witnesses interviewed by The Guardian have alleged that armed groups aligned with the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) are forcibly recruiting men and boys in northern Ethiopia, including children as young as 15.

The newspaper’s report, published on 6 October 2026, describes accounts of people being taken from streets and public transport areas as renewed fighting leaves civilians seeking ways to leave Tigray. The allegations have not been independently verified by AddisMizan.

One witness who said he had escaped to Addis Ababa told the newspaper he had seen teenagers rounded up at gunpoint. Another, a former combatant in the 2020–2022 war, described refusing a request to return to the fighting. The Guardian said it changed some interviewees’ names to protect their identities.

The report also describes families’ fears of conscription and obstacles to leaving the region after flights were suspended. It does not establish the total number of people allegedly recruited or the dates of each reported incident. The extracted report available to AddisMizan includes no response from the TPLF to the recruitment allegations.

The Guardian dates the renewed outbreak of conflict to 23 September 2026. The fighting follows the November 2022 Pretoria peace agreement, which ended the earlier war between Ethiopia’s federal government and Tigrayan forces.

Fana Broadcasting Corporate subsequently highlighted the Guardian testimony in an item published on 7 October 2026. That coverage draws on the same reporting and does not provide independent confirmation.

The allegations raise immediate questions about the protection of children and other civilians as fighting continues. Establishing the scale of recruitment and obtaining responses from the groups concerned remain essential to a fuller account.