Tigrayan armed opposition movement announced

The Tigray Democratic Union (TDU) announced it would start an armed opposition in the towns of Adwa, Axum and Temben, in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia. In a statement released from London, the TDU called on Tigrayans to oppose the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), whose dominant organisation is the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). The statement, signed by leader Aregawe Bereh - a former founding member of the TPLF - was carried on Saturday by ‘Moged’, a private newspaper.

According to the TDU, which was created by disaffected members of the TPLF, the government has used Tigrayans as “cannon fodder” in the war against Eritrea, and was “forcibly dispatching Tigrayan youths to various war fronts to safeguard their regime and stay in power”. TDU members had been arrested, said the statement. A regional expert told IRIN that the creation of an armed rebel movement in highland Tigray - the homeland and constituency of the ruling government elite - was “improbable due to a lack of deep discontent, and a tight intelligence and local administration structure”. The success of opposition groups in Ethiopia is now linked to the regional fallout of the two year border war, the expert said. “The key thing to look for in any new armed movement in Ethiopia would be the level of support from external sources, in particular Eritrea, Sudan or Somalia, through proxies”. Both Ethiopia and Eritrea have increased support for each other’s opposition groups.