TPLF reportedly arrested hundreds of people for being members of opposition party in Tigray
borkena
July 16, 2020
Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) had a stated intent to rule Ethiopia at least for one hundred years. However, due to political legitimacy to do so, TPLF adhered to a combination of ruthless repression and divisive politics as a strategy to maintain a hold on power.
As it turns out, both strategies did not work out and it was forced out of a dominant Federal government position through relentless nationwide protest and internal struggle.
The forty-five years old political organization (of which seventeen years was lived as a guerrilla group) was compelled to be confined to Mekelle, in north Ethiopia, from where it is governing the Tigray region.
Reports from ethnic Tigray opposition parties in the region indicate that TPLF is employing repression strategies in the region too. Tigray Democratic Party (TDP) reported that its members are experiencing inhuman treatment and repression, as reported by the Federal Government-owned Media Ethiopian News Agency.
The party has lodged a formal complaints letter to the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE), to the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission and to the office of the Prime Minister.
Dr. Aregawi Berhe, who was one of the founders of TPLF in the mid-1970s, said his party, Tigray Democratic Party (TDP), is based in the Tigray region and struggles for the freedom of Ethiopian people, equality, and prosperity.
He says it is recruiting and training members in different parts of the region, but members are experiencing recurrent harassment which he said is reported to the relevant body in the country both verbally and in writing.
Unlawful arbitrary detention is among the problems members of his party are facing, he said as reported by ENA. In Shire town, 128 are arrested over “writing Facebook status update.”
He added that an unspecified number of people are arrested in Mekelle, Endaselassie, Adigrat, Enticho, Korem, Wajirat, Adi Gudom, Korarit, Humera, Shiraro, and Badame towns for being members of Tigray Democratic Party.
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