The Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF; Tigrinya: ህዝባዊ ወያነ ሓርነት ትግራይ, 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 from May 2021 until its removal from the list in March 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]
According to official figures, the TPLF was founded on February 18, 1975, in Dedebit, northwestern Tigray.[27] Within 16 years, it grew from about a dozen men to become the most powerful armed "liberation" movement in Ethiopia.[28] 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.
On 2 November 2022, the African Union brokered a deal in Pretoria, South Africa, between the two parties to end the Tigray War.[33] As per the peace agreement, the TPLF began disarming in January 2023.[34][35]
^"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.
^ ab"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.
^ abcTefera 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/adz005Archived 7 December 2020 at the Wayback Machine
^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.
^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.
^"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.
^"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.
^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.
^"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.
^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)
^Hammond, Jenny (1999). Fire from the Ashes: a Chronicle of the Revolution in Tigray, Ethiopia, 1975–1991. Lawrenceville.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)