Tigray People's Liberation Front

"Woyane" redirects here. For the original (1943) movement, see Woyane rebellion.

Tigray People's Liberation Front
ህዝባዊ ወያነ ሓርነት ትግራይ
AbbreviationTPLF
ChairmanDebretsion Gebremichael
Deputy ChairmanFetlework Gebregziabher
SpokesmanGetachew Reda[1]
Founded18 February 1975
HeadquartersMekelle
NewspaperWeyin (ወይን)
Membership (1991)100,000
Ideology
Historical:
Political positionLeft-wing[15][16][17]
Historical:
Far-left[18]
National affiliationEPRDF (1988–2019)
CEFF (2019–2020)
UFEFCF (2021–2022)
Regional affiliationTigray Defense Forces
ColorsRed and Gold
House of Peoples' Representatives
0 / 547
Council of Tigray Regional State' Representatives
0 / 190
Party flag

The Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF; Tigrinya: ህዝባዊ ወያነ ሓርነት ትግራይ, romanized: Həzbawi Wäyyanä Ḥarənnät Təgray, lit. 'Popular Struggle for the Freedom of Tigray'), also known as the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front, is a left-wing ethnic nationalist,[2][19][20][5] paramilitary group,[21] and the former ruling party of Ethiopia.[22][23] It was classified as a terrorist organization by the Ethiopian government during the Tigray War until its removal from the list in 2023.[24][25] In older and less formal texts and speech it is known as Woyane (Tigrinya: ወያነ, lit. 'Revolutionary') or Weyané (Amharic: ወያኔ).[26]

This article contains Ethiopic text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Ethiopic characters.

The TPLF was founded on February 18, 1975, in Dedebit, Tigray.[27] Within 16 years, it grew from about a dozen men to become the most powerful armed liberation movement in Ethiopia.[28] Unlike the Eritrean or Somali liberation fronts at the time, the TPLF did not seek independence from the Ethiopian state; instead, it aimed to overthrow the central government and implement its own version of the Ethiopian revolution.[29] From 1988 to 2018, it led a political coalition, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). It fought a 15-year-long war against the Derg regime, which was overthrown on 28 May 1991. The TPLF, with the support of the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF), overthrew the government of the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (PDRE) on May 28, 1991, and installed a new government that remained in power for decades.

The new ruling EPRDF government, was dominated by the TPLF,[30][31] who gradually consolidated control over Ethiopia's federal administrations, the ENDF, and key economic resources such as foreign aid, loans, and land leases, amassing billions.[32] The TPLF's restructuring of Ethiopia into an ethnic federal state further fueled civil conflicts in the ensuing decades.[33]

The TPLF lost control of the federal government in 2018.[34][35] During the Tigray War that began in 2020, the National Election Board of Ethiopia terminated the party's legal status.[36][22] In 2021, the Ethiopian House of Peoples' Representatives formally approved a parliamentary resolution designating the TPLF as a terrorist organization.[25] On 2 November 2022, the African Union brokered a deal in Pretoria, South Africa, between the federal government and the TPLF to end the Tigray War.[37] As per the peace agreement, the TPLF began disarming in January 2023.[38][39]

Following the Pretoria peace agreement in 2022, the TPLF began experiencing severe internal divisions.[40][41]

  1. ^ "Getachew Reda talks about the state of war situation in Tigray". 7 November 2020. Archived from the original on 19 November 2020. Retrieved 11 November 2020.
  2. ^ a b Tefera Negash Gebregziabher (2019). "Ideology and power in TPLF's Ethiopia: A historic reversal in the making?". African Affairs. 118 (472): 463–484. doi:10.1093/afraf/adz005.
  3. ^ "Napalm statt Hirse" [Napalm instead of millet]. Die Zeit (in German). 1 June 1990. Archived from the original on 13 June 2021. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
  4. ^ "Kriege ohne Grenzen und das "erfolgreiche Scheitern" der Staaten am Horn von Afrika" [Wars without borders and the 'successful failure' of the states in the Horn of Africa] (PDF). Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (in German). Berlin. September 2008. Archived (PDF) from the original on 28 February 2021. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
  5. ^ a b "Parlamentswahlen in Äthiopien" [Parliamentary elections in Ethiopia] (PDF). Social Science Open Access Repository (in German). 2005. Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 December 2020. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
  6. ^ a b c Tefera Negash Gebregziabher, Ideology and power in TPLF’s Ethiopia: A historic reversal in the making?, African Affairs, Volume 118, Issue 472, July 2019, Pages 463–484, https://doi.org/10.1093/afraf/adz005 Archived 7 December 2020 at the Wayback Machine
  7. ^ Bieber, Florian (15 January 2019). "Don't Let Ethiopia Become the Next Yugoslavia". foreignpolicy.com. Likewise, Ethiopia has been ruled for decades by the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), a coalition of mostly ethnoregional political parties, dominated by the socialist Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF). Both combined nondemocratic traits with ethnofederalism.
  8. ^ Seyedi, Seyedmohammad (21 December 2021). "Ethiopia China's Gateway to Africa". ankasam.org. However, the friction between the socialist Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), which was active in Ethiopian politics until 2019, and the Ethiopian Federal Government, has deepened since last year, especially due to the postponement of the elections.
  9. ^ Tefera Negash Gebregziabher (2019). "Ideology and power in TPLF's Ethiopia: A historic reversal in the making?". African Affairs. 118 (472): 463–484. doi:10.1093/afraf/adz005. Adopting the ideological jargon of 'revolutionary democracy', the party leadership managed to come up with an ideology to maintain its power position in the party, not necessarily changing its core socialist values.
  10. ^ "Zenawism as ethnic-federalism" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 September 2020. Retrieved 9 December 2021.
  11. ^ "Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF)". dw.com.
  12. ^ Gebregziabher, Tefera Negash (July 2019). "Ideology and power in TPLF's Ethiopia: A historic reversal in the making?". African Affairs. 118 (472). Oxford University Press: 463–484. doi:10.1093/afraf/adz005.
  13. ^ Tadesse, Medhane; Young, John (31 March 2024). "TPLF: Reform or Decline?". Review of African Political Economy. 30 (97): 389–403. JSTOR 4006983.
  14. ^ Berhe, Aregawi (2008). A Political History of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (1975-1991): Revolt, Ideology and Mobilisation in Ethiopia (PDF) (Thesis). Amsterdam: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. p. 192. Almost all leaders of the TPLF thought of themselves as Marxist revolutionaries. Among them, an informal group which later named itself the 'communist core' within the TPLF was constituted by Abbay Tsehaye, Meles Zenawi and Sibhat Nega.
  15. ^ "World Health Coronavirus Disinformation". wsj.com. 5 April 2020. As a member of the left-wing Tigray People's Liberation Front, he rose through Ethiopia's autocratic government as health and foreign minister. After taking the director-general job in 2017, he tried to install Zimbabwe dictator Robert Mugabe as a WHO goodwill ambassador.
  16. ^ "Belt and road and 'bribes': Cotton says China paid off home country of WHO boss". washingtontimes.com. 17 April 2020. Mr. Tedros is a microbiologist, not a physician. He served as health and foreign minister as a member of Ethiopia's ruling leftist Tigray People's Liberation Front, which ousted military rule over 20 years ago.
  17. ^ Nyabiage, Jevans (27 March 2023). "In Ethiopia, China and the US map rival roads to lasting peace". scmp.com. Civil war erupted in November 2020 after the leftist Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) was accused of attacking a military base in the northern part of the country.
  18. ^ Berhe, Aregawi (2008). A Political History of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (1975-1991): Revolt, Ideology and Mobilisation in Ethiopia (PDF) (Thesis). Amsterdam: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. p. 237. Here probably lies the reason why the militant elite of the TPLF was seen to require an ultraleftist party.
  19. ^ "Napalm statt Hirse" [Napalm instead of millet]. Die Zeit (in German). 1 June 1990. Archived from the original on 13 June 2021. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
  20. ^ "Kriege ohne Grenzen und das "erfolgreiche Scheitern" der Staaten am Horn von Afrika" [Wars without borders and the 'successful failure' of the states in the Horn of Africa] (PDF). Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (in German). Berlin. September 2008. Archived (PDF) from the original on 28 February 2021. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
  21. ^ Parkinson, Nicholas Bariyo and Joe (29 November 2020). "Ethiopia's Tigray Group, Once Powerful, Now Battles Government Forces in Bid for Survival". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Archived from the original on 10 March 2021. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
  22. ^ a b "Ethiopia's electoral board revokes TPLF's legal status as political party". The EastAfrican. 20 January 2021. Archived from the original on 21 January 2021. Retrieved 21 January 2021.
  23. ^ "Rise and fall of Ethiopia's TPLF – from rebels to rulers and back". The Guardian. 25 November 2020. Archived from the original on 15 February 2021. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
  24. ^ "Ethiopia takes Tigray's TPLF party off terrorism list". Reuters. 23 March 2023. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
  25. ^ a b "Ethiopia Declares Tigray, Oromia Groups Terrorist Organizations". Bloomberg. 6 May 2021. Archived from the original on 24 November 2021. Retrieved 9 December 2021.
  26. ^ Kane, Thomas (2000). Tigrinya-English Dictionary, Volume 2. Springfield: Dunwoody. p. 1780.
  27. ^ "Tigray People's Liberation Front". Encyclopaedia Aethiopica. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag. 2003.
  28. ^ Berhe, Kahsay (2005). Ethiopia: Democratization and Unity: The Role of the Tigray People's Liberation Front. Münster.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  29. ^ Woodward, Peter (2003). "Ethiopia". The Horn of Africa: Politics and International Relations. Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 96–98. ISBN 978-1-86064-870-0.
  30. ^ Cite error: The named reference go was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  31. ^ Cite error: The named reference :14 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  32. ^ Cite error: The named reference :9 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  33. ^ Cite error: The named reference :3 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  34. ^ "Tigray crisis: Ethiopia orders military response after army base seized". BBC News. 4 November 2020. Archived from the original on 19 November 2020. Retrieved 4 November 2020.
  35. ^ "Rise and fall of Ethiopia's TPLF – from rebels to rulers and back". the Guardian. 25 November 2020. Archived from the original on 15 February 2021. Retrieved 9 September 2021.
  36. ^ Gebre, Samuel (18 January 2021). "Ethiopia Pulls Tigray Party License Ahead of June Elections". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on 6 August 2021. Retrieved 19 January 2021.
  37. ^ "Ethiopia's Tigray conflict: Flights resume between Addis Ababa and Mekelle". BBC News. 28 December 2022. Retrieved 30 December 2022.
  38. ^ "Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration in Ethiopia: What to expect – Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO)". www.prio.org. Retrieved 29 October 2023.
  39. ^ "Ethiopia's Tigrayan rebels start handing over heavy weapons". www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 29 October 2023.
  40. ^ Mitiku, Molla (16 September 2024). "TPLF Leadership Rift: Factional infighting threatens Tigray's fragile peace, post-war recovery". Addis Standard. Retrieved 17 September 2024.
  41. ^ Cite error: The named reference :15 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).