General Tsadkan Gebretensae rules out the possibility of one party rule in Tigray. He was speaking in Mekelle, Tigray’s regional capital.
General Tsadkan Gebretensae is one of the most seasoned military Generals in Tigray. He worked as the Chief of Staff of the Ethiopian military too. During the Eritrea–Ethiopia 1998 war, he insisted on pushing the Ethiopian army into the Eritrean capital Asmara, but Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi disagreed with his plan. After the war, TPLF Prime Minister Meles Zenawi fired Tsadkan from his position of chief of staff in 2001. Tsadkan later stated that his main issue of dispute with Meles was about lack of democratization in Ethiopia. During recent 2020 war in Tigray, General Tsadkan put aside his differences with TPLF and joined Tigray fighters against federal forces.
Speaking in Mekelle, he said that the “return of old one party rule in Tigray is a wishful thinking”. Tigray’s politics has been dominated by one party called Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) for the last 3 decades. However, TPLF is faced with the worst internal divisions. TPLF has literally split in two. One faction is led by the President Getachew Reda. General Tsadkan, who is serving as deputy President in Tigray administration, is supportive of Getachew Reda group. The rival main TPLF group is led by Debretsion Gebremichael. During an interview recently, Debretsion Gebremichael leveled serious allegations against General Tsadkan. He accused the General of undermining the unity of Tigray and TPLF.
It seems that General Tsadkan is backed by the federal government of Ethiopia. He was nominated by Tigray civil society to be its representative in Tigray interim government. He is head of a Tigray govt department working on democratization of the region.
While TPLF leaders Getachew Reda and Debretsion Gebremichael are trying to hammer out their serious differences, General Tsadkan seems to be telling TPLF Debretsion group leaders that they cannot single handedly rule Tigray and they will have to share power with other players too.
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