Abiy installs six-month interim government in Tigray after crushing TPLF uprising

Ethiopia’s federal government has taken direct charge of Tigray, installing an interim administration in the northern region weeks after the army beat back an uprising by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced the six-month administration in a statement on Friday and pledged that free elections would follow. The government said the interim body would create “a stable political situation” so that a vote could be held.

Five officials have been appointed to run the region, among them the mayor of the regional capital, Mekelle. They will carry out “directives and instructions” sent directly from the federal government. The TPLF has not yet responded.

How it came to this

The TPLF, Tigray’s main political party, said in April that it was taking back control of the region, in effect ending its peace deal with Addis Ababa. In September it launched an offensive with several other armed groups aimed at toppling Abiy’s government.

After early gains in the neighbouring Afar region, its fighters were defeated and lost Tigray’s major cities, surrendering in Mekelle in early October. Ethiopia has accused Eritrea of backing the TPLF, which Eritrea denies. Eritrean troops who had entered Tigray pulled out after heavy Ethiopian drone strikes.

On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio urged both sides to de-escalate in a phone call with Abiy.

A scarred region

The TPLF ran Ethiopia for nearly 30 years until Abiy’s party came to power in 2018. Tigray still bears the wounds of the 2020-2022 war between federal forces, then backed by Eritrea, and the TPLF, in which almost 600,000 people were killed. The peace deal that ended that war left key promises unmet, including the return of displaced people and the disarmament of the TPLF.