September 20, 2024
Toronto
borkena – Getachew Reda, president of Interim government of Tigray, on Thursday said “the group that undertook party congress is making moves to undertake coup d’etat ”
The faction under Getachew Reda released a statement as “TPLF central Committee” and accused the Debretsion faction of making efforts to demolish government structure in the region.
Getachew Reda’s group statement came a day after the faction under Debretsion released a statement suspending 16 central committee members – including Getachew Reda- from any government role representing the TPLF.
They argue that Getachew Reda’s group represented the TPLF in the Interim Tigray Regional government arrangement, and that now the party congress that was held last month has removed them as central committee members.
The problem is the decision from the congress does not seem to have recognition from the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia. Debretsion’s group has bypassed laws of the board ( a constitutional one) when organizing the congress. For example, the party was supposed to notify the Board several weeks before the congress in order for the Board to inspect the legality of the process leading to the congress and the decisions from it. Also, the Board itself was to be represented during the congress, which did not happen either.
The controversy between the two factions of the TPLF is now reflecting on their respective support base , and probably within the armed combatants that were organized as “Tigray Defense Force.” Debretsion this year announced that the party still has over 200,000 armed combatants. There are noticeable fears that the division within the party may lead to another conflict in the region.
The TPLF was required to disarm in accordance with the Pretoria Agreement but Abiy Ahmed’s government ignored its implementation. Some political analysts tend to think that Abiy Ahmed’s government deliberately ignored the task of implementing disarming the TPLF with the hope of using the TPLF fighters against Fano resistance in the Amhara region of Ethiopia.
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