The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) has defended that «everything it does» is aimed at «ensuring the interests of the people of Tigray» and stressed that «peace is what it needs most», following the agreement with the Government of Ethiopia for a cessation of hostilities.
«Every case we make, every decision we take and every agreement we sign is driven by the need to secure the interests of the people of Tigray,» TPLF spokesman Getachew Reda said in a message on his Twitter social network account.
«Peace is what our people need most. Time will tell if we fulfill our promise in a way that satisfies our people,» he said, before stressing that the group is «doing what is necessary to protect the people, who have suffered more than a mortal can bear.»
In this sense, Getachew said that the TPLF «fights not because it is a trigger-happy nation, but because our survival as a people is at stake». «If a peace agreement can guarantee our survival, why not give it a try?» he has argued.
The words of the TPLF spokesman have come after some internal criticism in the Tigray region (north) for the agreement to negotiate with the Ethiopian authorities, which includes the disarmament of the group and the creation of transitional authorities in the area.
On Monday, contacts began in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, between senior military officials of the army and the TPLF to discuss the cessation of hostilities agreed last week, as confirmed by the African Union (AU), which is carrying out mediation work.
The conflict in Tigray erupted in November 2020 following a TPLF attack on the army’s main base in Mekelle, after which the Abiy government ordered an offensive against the group following months of political and administrative tensions, including the TPLF’s refusal to recognize an electoral postponement and its decision to hold regional elections outside Addis Ababa.
The TPLF accuses Abiy of whipping up tensions since coming to power in April 2018, when he became the first Oromo to accede to office. Until then, the TPLF had been the dominant force within Ethiopia’s ruling coalition since 1991, the ethnically-supported Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). The group opposed Abiy’s reforms, which it saw as an attempt to undermine its influence.
