“Save TPLF” meeting underway in Mekele as Debretsion faction on day six of 14th congress

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Toronto – With the agenda item “Work that is worth saving TPLF has to be done,” the Getachew Reda faction of the TPLF on Sunday started a meeting at the Tigray regional council Hall in Mekelle. 

The group that called the Sunday meeting underscores the importance of the meeting. Getachew described it as “timely and necessary,” as reported by BBC Amharic. 

“Peace is our people’s key issue and there is no other option for it,” said Getachew Reda indirectly hinting that the other faction is brewing conflict again. He was in fact explicit in some way. “Beating drums of war day and night is not right. If there is anyone that is declaring war, we can prepare for it,” Getachew added. 

In a recent speech following the introduction of Ethiopia’s currency devaluation which was framed as “macro economic reform,” Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed disclosed that the TPLF made about five provocations that could have reignited conflict.

In October and November 2023, TPLF forces ventured into a military move in Raya Alamata area clashing with local militia. It is a massive force that the TPLF deployed with the aim of removing the administrative structures in the region and replacing it with a TPLF administration. At the time OCHA – the UN body – reported that over 50,000 residents were displaced after the TPLF’s military incursion into the area. One of the core arrangements of the Pretoria Agreement, which ended the two year’s bloody war between TPLF and the Federal government, was for the TPLF to disarm its combatants. But the party still has more than 270,000 armed combatants.   

Getachew Reda’s group meeting  in Mekelle came a day after the Debretsion (chairman of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front – TPLF) released a statement relegating the 17 central committee and audit committee members to a mere member status in its day five of the congress. They were dismissed as people of authority in the party because they did not attend the 14th congress. The Chairman’s faction also argued that their terms of office had ended. 

The TPLF is currently experiencing what is said to be unprecedented internal division. It has to do with the party’s registration with the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) and the 14th congress. It is the Debretsion faction that has been pushing the two issues. 

On Saturday afternoon, Getachew Reda, who is currently the president of the Tigray Region Interim Administration – also an arrangement based on the Pretoria Agreement –  , expressed concern that the group that has organized the 14th congress could usurp regional power and asked the security forces in the region not to be an instrument for it. 

Getachew’s faction tend to think that the Debretsion faction is “emboldened by unknown external forces” in its decision to organize the 14th congress. The central committee and audit committee who decline to take part in it, including Getachew, express concern that it may lead to an undesirable situation [ possibly another war]. In addition to the Federal government, there could be a possible war within the organization itself. 

In the meantime, the TPLF under Debretsion is on day six of the 14th congress. And the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia has announced earlier this year that it will not accept the decision from the congress due to rules infraction.  

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