The tactics could easily be replicated by Ethiopia – or by other authoritarian regimes elsewhere – which makes understanding the Tigray case crucial. The Tigray war demonstrates how modern authoritarian states can combine military force, information control and narrative framing to obscure mass atrocities. Additionally, the Tigray war was presented as a “law enforcement operation”. In 2023, both the UN-mandated International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia and an African Union commission of inquiry were terminated. These commitments amounted to what the UN Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia has described as “quasi-compliance”: symbolic gestures rather than genuine efforts to ensure accountability.

Source: Ethiopian News February 14, 2026 20:42 UTC