TPLF says Ethiopia ban threatens Tigray peace deal

Ethiopia’s main opposition party has called for the African Union to mediate with the federal government after the electoral board revoked its legal status as a party.

The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) said the move to ban it from any political activity was “dangerous” and posed a “serious threat” to the 2022 deal that ended two years of conflict in the northern Tigray region.

The party, which governs Tigray and dominated the entire country for many years, was on Wednesday banned for failing to hold a general assembly.

The decision follows months of political tensions in Tigray and comes ahead of nationwide elections that are due to take place by June next year at the latest.

The party led a coalition that staged a 1991 coup and ruled Ethiopia until 2018 when Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed took power.

It fought a brutal two-year civil war against the federal government that ended with a truce signed in November 2022 after tens of thousands of people were killed and millions forced from their homes in northern Ethiopia.

The party runs Tigray’s interim administration which was established in 2023 as part of the peace deal, known as the Pretoria peace agreement.

But the party has been unable to conduct internal elections because of a split, with two factions laying claim to control of the party.

The National Election Board of Ethiopia, which supervises the conduct of political parties, on Wednesday “resolved to formally deregister” the TPLF on the grounds that it had failed to hold a general assembly.

But the party has protested against the move and called on the African Union to put “pressure” on the federal government to suspend the enforcement of the ban.

In a letter to the AU, the party said the ban “denies the TPLF a right it had reclaimed through the Pretoria Agreement and poses a serious threat to the foundation of the peace process”.

It added that the peace deal stipulated that both parties recognise each other’s legitimacy and any political issue should be resolved through dialogue.

TPLF deputy chairman Ammanuel Assefa told the BBC that the decision by the electoral board could “damage the Pretoria agreement” which “is going to be dangerous”.

“This isn’t just about TPLF, but also about undermining what people have sacrificed,” Ammanuel added.

Delays in implementing the terms of the agreement, including the return of some one million people displaced by the war, have fuelled fears of fresh violence in Tigray.

Several countries including the US, UK and the European Union have warned about the escalating tension, saying there must be “no return to violence”.