Ethiopian Prime Minister this week warned Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) against holding party congress.
The Prime Minister spoke about that while meeting with representatives of political parties. On Monday, some Ethiopian political parties met with the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister termed it as an engagement between government and opposition parties. However, major opposition parties boycotted this meeting with PM.
Addressing the participants, the Prime Minister said that TPLF must fulfil the requirement of the National Election Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) before holding a party congress.
TPLF was declared a terrorist entity by the Ethiopian parliament in 2021 after broke out between TPLF and Federal Forces in November 2020. The war ended in November 2022 when the warring parties signed Pretoria Deal. In 2023, terrorist designation was removed from TPLF by the Ethiopian parliament, but party’s status as a political party was not restored. NEBE asked TPLF to register as a new party, which TPLF rejected.
Last month, Ethiopian parliament approved an amendment in law about registration of political parties. It was being speculated that in the light of the new amendment, TPLF’s status will be restored. But NEBE again asked TPLF to apply for a new registration.
Last week, TPLF held an 11-day meeting. Senior TPLF leaders accused each other at the party meeting. After that, the party announced to hold a congress at the end of this month.
While PM warned TPLF against holding a congress, Amanuel Assefa, TPLF spokesperson, on Tuesday, said that TPLF would not register as a new political party. It wants restoration of its earlier status in accordance with the Pretoria Agreement.
Tigray People’s Liberation Front is seeing serious internal divisions. Tekleberhan Aryana, TPLF Commission Chairman, disclosed on Monday that party leaders had split in two. One group led by interim President of Tigray Getachew Reda has backing of federal government of PM Abiy. The other group consists of senior leaders including chairman Debretsion Gebremichael, Deputy Chairman Fetlework Gebregziaber, Alem Gebrewahid etc.
Last week, the party confirmed in a statement that it was facing a serious internal challenge which is the most difficult challenge faced by the party in the last 50 years.
It seems that federal government of PM Abiy Ahmed wants TPLF senior leaders to solve their issues with Getachew Reda group. Until the issues are not solved, reinstatement of TPLF will not happen. It would be interesting to see if Tigray People’s Liberation Front would listen to the PM and postpone its congress or not.
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