Fighting has reignited in Ethiopia's Tigray region after a ceasefire collapsed, with armed groups now forcibly recruiting boys as young as 15 to bolster their ranks, according to reports cited by The Guardian.
Renewed conflict erupted on 23 September between Ethiopia's federal government and the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), which governs the region. The fighting shattered a peace agreement signed in Pretoria in November 2022. The Guardian reports that a new alliance of armed groups operating in Tigray has begun rounding up men and boys from streets to force them into military service, prompting civilians to attempt to flee the area.
The forcible recruitment of minors, particularly children below age 18, constitutes a violation of international humanitarian law and can be classified as a war crime. The emergence of child recruitment follows the collapse of the ceasefire that had held for approximately 10 months.
The renewed violence threatens to trigger a fresh humanitarian crisis in the northern region. The Tigray conflict, which first erupted in 2020, displaced millions and created widespread famine conditions before the Pretoria agreement temporarily halted major hostilities.