Thread by @BirhanuLenjiso

In 1943, Raya Peasants (Qadamay Woyane) revolted against the re-establishment of the Imperial Rule after the Italian occupation. The rebellions were ruthlessly defeated with the support of aircraft from the United Kingdom's Royal Air Force (1/8)

This is believed to have sown the seed of regional identity among Rayas & Tigrays. In the 1960/70s Tigray students had established student association in Addis Ababa university & that later left for Dedebit to start guerrilla fight. They also named themselves the 2nd Woyane (2/8)

Even with a dedicated help from EPLF & other forces, politicization of famine & use of food aid for purchasing massive weapons, it still took the weak TPLF 16 years & organizing multiple other forces to rise power in Addis Ababa (3/8).

For twice as long as its age in the bushes, TPLF had used iron fist strategy to dominate the entire Ethiopian political & economic life. I can’t think of a time in Ethiopian history when Ethiopian politics was as centralized as under TPLF (4/8).

TPLF’s iron fist strategy was pushed too much & too quickly to the extent of inviting the young people to revolt. In 2018, they’re forced to make a concession that brought @AbiyAhmedAli to power. Then, they were removed from the power they dominated & took refugee in Tigray (5/8)

In fact, TPLF rejected the election of @AbiyAhmedAli, his security & party reforms & postponement of election & finally attacked the Northern Military Base, which has pushed the Federal Govt to start military offensive that it calls “law enforcement operations in Tigray” (6/8)

National Defense Force controlled the region & declared completing the military operation in 3 weeks. The hardcore TPLFties were either captured or killed. The ruminants attacked Eritrea 🇪🇷 & tried to drag UAE in, to get international attention (7/8).

The operation obviously involves multiple unfortunate casualties. Ethiopia need to deal with the humanitarian crises carefully. But the fact that TPLF is a conflict & crises entrepreneurs should be noted. Their ruthlessness is to the extent of using food aid to buy weapons (end)

This is pretty much a summary of the #Rise, #Rule & #Fall of #TPLF in Ethiopia. TPLF is good at playing the International community. TPLF fooled them on the ‘food aid’, on ‘Hawzen Massacre’, with its ideological shift, on Oro-Mara relations & again with its atrocities in Tigray.