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By Reuters June 19, 2026 07:41 (EAT)

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The U.S. State Department announced visa restrictions targeting people it said were undermining ​peace in Ethiopia on Thursday, focused on ‌hardliners in the Tigray People’s Liberation Front and their immediate family members.

“Rising tensions between Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) hardliners and ​the Ethiopian government have threatened to reignite ​the conflict in northern Ethiopia and undermine peace ⁠and security across the entire region,” the State ​Department said in a statement.

The State Department cited clashes ​between TPLF forces and Ethiopian government forces earlier this year.

“This visa restriction policy targets individuals who are responsible for, or complicit ​in, undermining resolution to the crisis in the ​Tigray region,” it said.

Tigray’s main political party reasserted control over the ‌northern ⁠Ethiopian region’s political administration in May, following through on a threat to violate a key provision of the deal that ended a civil war with the ​federal government.

The TPLF ​said it ⁠had restored the legislative council that existed before the 2020-2022 civil war and ​that the council had elected TPLF chair ​Debretsion ⁠Gebremichael as regional president.

The conflict in Tigray, which drew in forces from neighbouring Eritrea, was one of the ⁠century’s ​deadliest, killing hundreds of thousands ​of people through direct violence, the collapse of healthcare and famine, according ​to researchers.