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The 'Tigrayan People's Liberation Front' (TPLF), known more commonly in Ethiopia as 'Woyane' or 'Weyane' (Ge'ez: ሕዝባዊ ወያኔ ሓርነት ትግራይ, Tigrinya: ''ḥizbāwī weyānē ḥārinet tigrāy'', "Popular revolution (for) the freedom of Tigray") is a political party in Ethiopia.
At the last legislative elections, 15 May 2005, the party was the main part of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front, that won 327 out of 527 seats.^[1]
In the August 2005 Regional assembly elections, the party won all 152 seats in the Tigray Region.^[2]

Contents

History

Notes

Further reading

History

TPLF began in 1975 as the armed force that together with Eritrean People's Liberation Front fought against the authoritarian Derg regime of Mengistu Haile Mariam. From 1983, its core cadres founded the Marxist-Leninist League of Tigray in the line of Albanian Party of Labour. They incorporated the name ''Woyane'' in the title of their organization as an intentional reference to the Woyane rebellion, a revolt in Tigray that arose and was crushed in 1943.^[3]
Following the success of the TPLF in 1991 in gaining control of Ethiopia, and the collapse of communist regime in Albania, the TPLF dropped all references to Marxism-Leninism. The leadership of the TPLF claims that the MLLT dissolved when the TPLF-backed Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front took power after the collapse of the Derg in 1991.
Members of the TPLF include: Meles Zenawi (the Chairman), Seyoum Mesfin, Sebhat Nega, Arkebe Equbay, Abay Tsehaye, Tsegay Berhe, Siye Abraha, Sara Abraham (behind-the-scenes member), Tadesse Gebregzabier, Haftom Abraha, Gebrezgi Alemayahu (deceased), and Weyen (deceased).

Notes

1. Ethiopian House of Peoples' Representatives Website
2. African Elections Database
3. Bahru Zewde, ''A History of Modern Ethiopia'', second edition (Oxford: James Currey, 2001), pp. 215, 259.

Further reading

★ Kahsay Berhe: ''Ethopia: Democratization and Unity: The Role of the Tigray's People Liberation Front'', Münster 2005 ISBN 3-86582-137-5

★ Jenny Hammond: ''Fire From the Ashes: A Chronicle of the Revolution in Tigray, Ethiopia, 1975-1991''. Lawrenceville 1999 ISBN 1-56902-087-6

★ John Young: ''Peasant Revolution in Ethiopia: the Tigray People's Liberation Front'', Cambridge 1997. ISBN 0-521-59198-8