Ethiopia: Tigray Interim Admin Says Mekelle Courts to Resume Operations After Security Concerns ‘Partially Resolved’
Addis Abeba– The Tigray Interim Regional Administration announced that Mekelle city courts will resume operations on May 29, following what it described as a “joint agreement” reached with judicial officials after their security concerns were “partially resolved through dialogue with relevant authorities.”
The administration said the agreement came after “extensive discussions” held on May 26 between President Lt. Gen. Tadesse Worede and senior officials from the region’s justice institutions. According to a statement issued by the Presidential Office on May 27, the consultations focused on “security problems affecting judicial bodies” and identified issues requiring both “short-term and long-term” solutions.
In the statement, President Tadesse was quoted as saying the administration “fully recognizes the problems” facing the region’s judiciary and pledged to “work with high attention” alongside the justice bureau and courts to “secure the safety of judicial institutions and professionals” and to “ensure accountability.”
The decision follows the courts’ suspension of services on May 19, days after a disruption occurred at Mekelle Central Court on May 16 during proceedings in the case of Zewedu Haftu, a 32-year-old woman from Mekelle who was killed in August 2023 by unknown individuals while walking in the street with her girlfriend. Following the incident, all eight zonal courts and the central court announced they would not continue operations without security guarantees.
The Interim Administration subsequently said it would investigate and bring to justice those who “work to disrupt the justice system in the Tigray region,” and pledged to “make the results public” as well as to restore order and uphold the rule of law.
Siye Kidane Gebregziabher, Deputy President of Mekelle City Central Court, previously told Demtsi Weyane that the decision to suspend activity was made “because of our security problems,” stressing that the situation had escalated to a matter of “life and death.”
“We had been working despite the problems until now,” he said, noting that the suspension did not come lightly. “This doesn’t mean there weren’t many reasons that made us stop work before,” he added.
A chief prosecutor from one of Mekelle’s sub-cities, who requested anonymity for security reasons, further told Addis Standard that “the political dispute that arose in the region has followed all the way to the courts.” he described a growing climate of “conspiracy politics” and noted that “the two political camps that emerged in the region, where one group attempts to attack the other, has also cast its shadow on the judicial process.”
The chief prosecutor said the situation “requires urgent attention,” warning that “anarchy, or lack of order, has emerged” in court proceedings. He further alleged that when relatives of high-ranking officials appear before the court, they “go from intimidation” to what he described as efforts to “create chaos to distort the judicial process.”
In a public message aired by Tigray Television on May 27, the courts said they had decided to resume regular service because “our security concerns have been partially resolved.” The statement added that this came “through dialogue with the relevant authorities.”
The May 27 statement from the interim administration noted that participants in the consultation–Regional High Courts President Mengistu Teklay and Regional Justice Bureau Head Hadush Tesfu–presented “detailed information” on the challenges faced by courts in Mekelle and across the region.
The administration said it was asked to give “special attention” to solving these challenges and confirmed that a “joint agreement” had been reached to immediately resume court services in Mekelle and its sub-cities.
The events in Mekelle come against a broader backdrop of alarm over the state of justice in the region. In April, Addis Standard reported on alarming incidents driven by internal and external pressures on judges, particularly those presiding over cases of rape and murder.
The Tigray Judges Association previously said that “rape against women and murders have increased” in the region, particularly over the past two years, describing the rise as “unprecedented.” Judges working on such cases, it warned, face interference “both during and after trial proceedings,” making it difficult for them to “review cases independently and impartially.”
Crédito: Link de origem