Getachew Assefa (PhD)Abchu Wassihun2025-08-082025-08-082025-05-01https://etd.aau.edu.et/handle/123456789/6262This study explores the international legal status of Peace Agreements in general, concluded to terminate non international armed conflicts (NIAC), and the Pretoria Peace Agreement in particular, signed on November 3, 2022, between the Ethiopian government and the TPLF, which ended the tragic intrastate conflict in Ethiopia’s Tigray region. NIAC peace agreements, despite their proliferation as a way out of intrastate conflicts, their ambiguous legal status arising from the involvement of Non-State Armed Opposition Groups (AOGs), they are neither treaties under the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (1969) nor domestic instruments under the domestic law-making procedure, is being a significant challenge to compliance and enforcement. By using a qualitative analysis of international legal frameworks, judicial precedents, and state practice, this study examines the Pretoria Peace Agreement’s binding nature and the TPLF’s international legal personality. The findings show that the TPLF, as an organized AOG bound by international humanitarian law (IHL), has the capacity to enter internationally binding agreements. The agreement’s mandatory language, formal structure, incorporation of IHL and African Union (AU) norms, and AU-led monitoring mechanisms reflect the parties’ intent to create enforceable obligations. The thesis argues that, in order to enhance compliance, strengthen enforcement, and preserve the integrity of peace processes, NIAC peace agreements should be recognized as a distinct category of internationally binding instruments under Article 3 of the Vienna Convention. By positioning the Pretoria Peace Agreement within the developing normative framework of international law, this study contributes to the discourse on the legal nature of these agreements and forward some concluding remarks to reinforce their effectiveness in addressing intrastate conflictsenTPLF’s international legal personalityThesis