US Imposes Visa Curbs on Tigray Hardliners

The policy targets individuals deemed responsible for or complicit in undermining efforts to resolve the Tigray crisis. Tensions flared in May when the TPLF reasserted control over the regional administration, effectively violating a core provision of the agreement that ended the 2020-2022 civil war. Following this move, the party restored its pre-war legislative council and elected TPLF chair Debretsion Gebremichael as regional president.

State Department officials pointed to recent armed clashes between TPLF units and federal forces as evidence of the deteriorating security landscape. The previous conflict, which drew in troops from neighboring Eritrea, remains one of the century's deadliest episodes. Researchers estimate that direct violence, widespread famine, and the total collapse of regional healthcare systems resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths during the two-year war.