{"id":115131,"date":"2025-05-16T11:04:42","date_gmt":"2025-05-16T11:04:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/index.php\/2025\/05\/16\/tigray-party-says-ban-threatens-ethiopia-peace-deal\/"},"modified":"2025-05-16T11:04:42","modified_gmt":"2025-05-16T11:04:42","slug":"tigray-party-says-ban-threatens-ethiopia-peace-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/tigray-party-says-ban-threatens-ethiopia-peace-deal\/","title":{"rendered":"Tigray party says ban threatens Ethiopia peace deal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ethiopia\u2019s main opposition party has called for the African Union to mediate with the federal government after the electoral board revoked its legal status as a party.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Tigray People\u2019s Liberation Front (TPLF) said the move to ban it from any political activity was \u201cdangerous\u201d and posed a \u201cserious threat\u201d to the 2022 deal that ended two years of conflict in the northern Tigray region.<\/p>\n

The party, which governs Tigray and dominated the entire country for many years, was on Wednesday banned for failing to hold a general assembly.<\/p>\n

The decision follows months of political tensions in Tigray and comes ahead of nationwide elections that are due to take place by June next year at the latest.<\/p>\n

The party led a coalition that staged a 1991 coup and ruled Ethiopia until 2018 when Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed took power.<\/p>\n

It fought a brutal two-year civil war against the federal government that ended with a truce signed in November 2022 after tens of thousands of people were killed and millions forced from their homes in northern Ethiopia.<\/p>\n

The party runs Tigray\u2019s interim administration which was established in 2023 as part of the peace deal, known as the Pretoria peace agreement.<\/p>\n

But the party has been unable to conduct internal elections because of a split, with two factions laying claim to control of the party.<\/p>\n

The National Election Board of Ethiopia, which supervises the conduct of political parties, on Wednesday \u201cresolved to formally deregister\u201d the TPLF on the grounds that it had failed to hold a general assembly.<\/p>\n

But the party has protested against the move and called on the African Union to put \u201cpressure\u201d on the federal government to suspend the enforcement of the ban.<\/p>\n

In a letter to the AU, the party said the ban \u201cdenies the TPLF a right it had reclaimed through the Pretoria Agreement and poses a serious threat to the foundation of the peace process\u201d.<\/p>\n

It added that the peace deal stipulated that both parties recognise each other\u2019s legitimacy and any political issue should be resolved through dialogue.<\/p>\n

TPLF deputy chairman Ammanuel Assefa told the BBC that the decision by the electoral board could \u201cdamage the Pretoria agreement\u201d which \u201cis going to be dangerous\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis isn\u2019t just about TPLF, but also about undermining what people have sacrificed,\u201d Ammanuel added.<\/p>\n

Delays in implementing the terms of the agreement, including the return of some one million people displaced by the war, have fuelled fears of fresh violence in Tigray.<\/p>\n

Several countries including the US, UK and the European Union have warned about the escalating tension, saying there must be \u201cno return to violence\u201d.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ethiopia\u2019s main opposition party has called for the African Union to mediate with the federal government after the electoral board revoked its legal status as a party. The Tigray People\u2019s Liberation Front (TPLF) said the move to ban it from any political activity was \u201cdangerous\u201d and posed a \u201cserious threat\u201d to the 2022 deal that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-115131","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115131"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115131\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}