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Ethiopian parliament delists TPLF as terrorist organisation

Wednesday March 22 2023
Ethiopia Tigray peace agreement

Ethiopian government representative Redwan Hussein (left) and TPLF representative Getachew Reda shake hands on November 2, 2022 after a peace agreement between the two parties. PHOTO | PHILL MAGAKOE | AFP

By TESFA-ALEM TEKLE

The Ethiopian parliament on Wednesday lifted the designation of Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) as a terrorist entity, five months after the country signed a peace deal to end war in the northern parts of the country.

The decision by the Federal House of the People’s Representatives allows the movement to return to the formal politics of the country, and supposedly adds to further steps meant to end animosity from a war that had lasted two years.

Read: Blinken praises Ethiopia peace progress

The legislators held an extraordinary session on Wednesday with majority vote, 61 against and 5 abstentions, endorsing the government’s proposal to unban TPLF, which had fought government forces from November 2020.

TPLF fighter arrives by car in Mekele

People react as a TPLF fighter arrives by car in Mekele, the capital of Tigray region on June 29, 2021. PHOTO | YASUYOSHI CHIBA | AFP

Peace agreement

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The decision is believed to have a major contribution to the full implementation of the peace agreement signed last November between TPLF and the Ethiopian federal government.

A dispatch from the House said the move was meant to “consolidate the agreement between TPLF and the federal government of Ethiopia in Pretoria”.

Read: Ethiopia pushes to end Tigray war probe

The House said the decision is part of efforts to resume rule of law and protect the “national interests of Ethiopia”.

The two sides, mediated by African Union special envoys, agreed on a peace deal in November. The deal allowed the TPLF to surrender weapons gradually as they are allowed back into formal politics.

Getachew Reda, the TPLF chief negotiator, was last week appointed interim leader of the Tigray regional administration. The region is due to organise formal elections later.

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