The Advisory Council: A Coward’s Assembly and a Betrayal of Tigray

Once again, the so-called Interim Administration of Tigray has orchestrated a disgraceful spectacle—this time under the guise of an Advisory Council, a body not formed to serve the people but to tighten the chains of submission. This is not governance. This is another table of sabotage, another proof of the administration’s loyalty to Abiy Ahmed’s government, another betrayal disguised as leadership. Those who expected wisdom, integrity, or a voice for the people will find nothing but opportunism, cowardice, and a desperate attempt to whitewash a regime that continues to suffocate Tigray.

                                                                

This council is not about representation; it is about exclusion. It deliberately locks out the true voices of Tigray—the historians, intellectuals, community elders, and seasoned advisors who have long been the backbone of Tigray’s struggle. Instead, it is packed with individuals handpicked for their obedience rather than their wisdom. It is filled with those who do not dare challenge power, those who prefer silence over truth, and those who see personal gain as more important than the suffering of their own people. What has been established is not an advisory body but a collection of regime-friendly mouthpieces, a group of people who will nod along as Tigray’s fate is decided in Addis Ababa.

The true purpose of this council is not to heal wounds or find solutions; it is to create distractions. It is a deliberate maneuver to weaken the real forces of Tigray, to strip legitimate voices of their roles and replace them with state-sponsored actors. While mass graves are uncovered and famine continues to claim lives, the Interim Administration offers discussions instead of justice, meetings instead of action. This is not incompetence—it is a calculated betrayal, an effort to defang Tigray’s resistance and redirect its energies into meaningless conversations that serve only the interests of the Ethiopian government.

The evil at the heart of this establishment is unmistakable. It is an insult to the martyrs who died for Tigray’s right to self-determination, to the families who have lost everything, and to the millions who continue to suffer in silence. The Interim Administration has chosen its side—it has aligned itself with oppressors rather than the oppressed, with invaders rather than the invaded. Those who take part in this council are not advisors; they are enablers. They are not voices of wisdom; they are echoes of cowardice. They are not representatives of Tigray; they are servants of its destroyers.

But the people of Tigray will not be deceived. They have seen betrayal before, and they recognize it now. No fraudulent council, no choreographed debates, no staged exclusivity will erase the truth. This council is not an instrument of leadership—it is an extension of oppression. It exists not to serve the people but to undermine them, not to offer solutions but to manufacture submission. Yet, history does not forget. It remembers those who stood for justice and those who knelt before power. And when the time comes, Tigray will not only reject this council—it will condemn it as the failure it was always meant to be.