Key Terms: War in Tigray
Hi everyone,
My vice-chair Timothy has compiled this list of key terms to help you all better understand our first topic, the War in Tigray, and supplement the topic synopsis. As always, feel free to comment below if you have any questions, or would like to discuss with other delegates ahead of conference.
Tigray People’s Liberation Front:
The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) refers to a party from northern Tigray that opposed Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s move to disband the governing coalition and replace it with the single Prosperity Party. A reason for this conflict is that the TPLF feared the loss of their regional autonomy in the Tigray region. The TPLF initiated conflict in the Tigray region, attacking federal bases around the area on November 3rd of 2020. (International Crisis Group, Finding a Path to Peace in Ethiopia’s Tigray Region)
African Union:
The African Union is a multilateral political body consisting of representatives from all the African states. The African Union was established in 2002, and encompasses a wide range of functions and offices (African Union, “About the African Union). One of these, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, has launched a human rights investigation into the Tigray conflict. (Aljazeera, “African Union Launches Probe into Alleged Rights Abuses in Tigray”)
Prosperity Party:
The Prosperity Party is the ruling party of Ethiopia. It was created in 2019 by merging several parties belonging to the previous Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. The Prosperity Party seeks to distance itself away from the previous model of localized, ethnic rule and instead aims to become an encompassing party for the whole of Ethiopia. The creation of the Party has been resisted by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, leading to conflict in Tigray (Ezega News, “The EPRDF Officially Ends; The Prosperity Party Begins”)
Amhara:
Amhara refers to a region in Northern Ethiopia bordering Tigray, as well as the people living in the region. Military personnel from this region were deployed in response to the TPLF assault on various federal military bases stationed around the Tigray region on behalf of the federal government army. Amhara forces have also remained in this conflict over territorial disputes with Tigray, and there have been reports of land seizure by occupying Amharan forces (International Crisis Group, “Ethiopia’s Tigray War”).
Eritrea:
Eritrea is a country that borders Ethiopia to the north. Military personnel from Eritrea were deployed on behalf of federal government forces in response to the TPLF assault on various military bases stationed around the Tigray region. Eritrea has historically been engaged in territorial disputes with Ethiopia over some areas in the north of Tigray, which may be a reason for their prolonged involvement (Zelalem).
Works Cited:
“About the African Union” African Union.
“African Union Launches Probe into Alleged Rights Abuses in Tigray.” Al Jazeera, 17 June 2021, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/6/17/african-union-launches-probe-alleged-rights-abuses-tigray.
Ethiopia’s Tigray War: A Deadly, Dangerous Stalemate.” International Crisis Group, 2 Apr. 2021, https://www.crisisgroup.org/africa/horn-africa/ethiopia/b171-ethiopias-tigray-war-deadly-dangerous-stalemate.
Finding a Path to Peace in Ethiopia’s Tigray Region. International Crisis Group, 2021. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep31549.
“The EPRDF Officially Ends; The Prosperity Party Begins.” Ezega News, 26 Dec. 2019, https://www.ezega.com/News/NewsDetails/7599/The-EPRDF-Officially-Ends-The-Prosperity-Party-Begins.
Zelalem, Zecharias. “‘They Started Burning the Homes’: Ethiopians Say Their Towns Are Being Razed in Ethnic Cleansing Campaign.” Vice, 27 Feb. 2021, https://www.vice.com/en/article/n7vgex/they-started-burning-the-homes-ethiopians-say-their-towns-are-being-razed-in-ethnic-cleansing-campaign.
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