March 22 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Ethiopian Parliament has approved this Wednesday the withdrawal of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Tigray (TPLF) from the list of terrorist organizations in the midst of the peace process initiated after the cessation of hostilities agreement signed in November 2022 after nearly two years of conflict in the Tigray region (north).
The Ethiopian House of Representatives has indicated in a message posted on its Facebook social network account that the decision has been adopted “by majority”, although 61 parliamentarians have voted against it and five have abstained.
Likewise, he has explained that the measure takes place within the framework of the peace process and has argued that “the withdrawal of the TPLF from the list of terrorist organizations was an inevitable matter” to achieve progress in the negotiation process between Addis Ababa and the group Tigrayan.
The group was designated as a terrorist organization in May 2021 along with the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA), which expressed its alliance with the TPLF in the midst of the war in Tigray and has carried out dozens of attacks in recent years, especially in the Oromia region.
The representative of the majority in Parliament, Tesfaye Belgige, has defended that the decision “supports” the efforts underway to achieve “a lasting peace” in the African country, after several parliamentarians have expressed their doubts about the intentions of the TPLF within the framework of the negotiation process, as reported by the Ethiopian television channel Fana.
In this sense, the Ethiopian Minister of Justice, Gedion Zemotiwos, has stressed that the group is adopting “positive measures” that justify its withdrawal from the list of terrorist organizations and has stressed that “it is contributing to national efforts for peace “, including “a willingness to disarm and demobilize its fighters.”
The conflict in Tigray erupted in November 2020 after an attack by the TPLF against the main base of the Ethiopian Army, located in the capital of Tigray, Mekelle, after which the Government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed ordered an offensive against the group.
The start of the fighting came after months of tensions at the political and administrative level, including the TPLF’s refusal to recognize an electoral postponement and its decision to hold regional elections outside of Addis Ababa.
The TPLF accused Abiy of stoking tensions since he came to power in April 2018, when he became the first Oromo to take office. Until then, the TPLF had been the dominant force within the coalition that has ruled Ethiopia since 1991, the ethnically based Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). The group opposed Abiy’s reforms, which it viewed as an attempt to undermine his influence.
