Expert Comment
ACLED’s East Africa Senior Analyst Dr.des. Jalale Getachew Birru comments on how a new internal fracture within the TPLF is catalyzing a new wave of political instability within Tigray
16 April 2026Author
Jalale Getachew Birru
Senior Analyst, East Africa
Jalale Getachew Birru, East Africa Senior Analyst at ACLED, said:
“Another internal split within the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) is unfolding as we speak, as senior party figures contest the extension of Tigray’s interim administration and push to dismantle it —even as the interim administration’s president refuses to step aside.1
“The storm started when, on April 8, the federal government made a decision to extend the term of the interim administration by one year, which the TPLF contested, claiming the decision was made without their proper consultation.
“In an attempt to consolidate power, TPLF leadership pressured the interim president, Tadesse Wered, to decline the term extension. However, Tadese has resisted these demands, choosing instead to maintain his current position. The fact that Tadese —a key military figure during the northern Ethiopia conflict and currently the head of the Tigray Defense Forces— is refusing to obey the party hardliners is a massive shift in TPLF dynamics.
“The TPLF’s central committee began another round of internal meetings on 15 April, and the outcome is still not known.
“Those members of the central committee opposing the extension —Debretsion Gebremichael, Fetlework Gebregziabher, Abraham Tekeste, and Amanuel Assefa— are allegedly pushing to dissolve the Interim Administration with the objective of reinstating the officials elected during the 2020 Tigray regional elections. There are early indications that this effort is already initiated, as several woreda councils in Central Tigray issued resolutions calling for the reinstatement of the 2020 elected authorities on 8 April. Such a move will put the President of TPLF, Debretsion Gebremichael, as the regional president of Tigray. The 2020 election, however, was conducted outside Ethiopia’s national legal framework and was nullified by the Pretoria Agreement, which restored federal authority and called for new elections.
“This development and the ongoing tension between the TPLF and the federal government represent a familiar pattern of cyclical escalation that preceded the previous outbreak of the northern Ethiopia conflict in November 2020.”
For an interview with Dr.des. Jalale Getachew Birru, contact the ACLED press office, press@acleddata.com.
Footnotes
- 1For first round of TPLF’s internal dispute, see ACLED’s “Two years after the Pretoria agreement, unrest still looms in Tigray – October 2024” report