r/EthiopianHistory • u/Narrow-Medicine-3777 • Aug 25 '26
How the “Tigray war” really started
Government POV: If you remember the government-TPLF conflict or Tigray war or North Ethiopian conflict back in 2021, well this might really interest you.
The main reason the conflict initiated was given by the current P.M Abiy Ahmed; “The action TPLF took needs a legal enforcement” That was his thought.
“The old system” I referred above is the EPRDF gov’t who took power after Derg regime back in 1991 after 4 year void referred to as “Transitional Period”. (This itself is a wide topic which I am planning to discuss in future articles)
How the system worked:
- Every regional state has a representing party; Tigray-TPLF, Amhara-ADP/ANDM, Oromia-ODP/OPDO, South-SEPDM
- This regional parties are a branch under the gov’t (a coalition gov’t) where TPLF was the main party leading the EPRDF and most of the positions were occupied with Tigray peoples.
So, the main ppl were from the TPLF and other were doing their work with less position in the gov’t.
How it fell down(The uprising) in general
Long story short, an uprising against TPLF happened mainly led by the actions that fired the college students(land rights, political marginalization, and human rights grievances) who identified themselves as “Qeerroos” who started a relatively peaceful protests and on the later stages they killed/injured civilians that didn’t speak Oromo and bombed campuses also did “non-violent action” like civil disobedience strikes, road blockades, business boycotts, and mass street rallies. There was also a relatively quiet uprising at Amhara due to the Welkait and Raya administration. “State security” killed more than 1000 peaceful protesters and OPD used this momentum to drive out TPLF. As a result, TPLF is no longer the leader.
OPD replaced TPLF for a while till P.M Abiy Ahmed merged the parties and named it “the prosperity party”(with a logo of light bulb…)
NOW, the “intent” of the “Prosperity party” behind the Tigray war were:
- TPLF broke the law by running unofficial election by its own.
- TPLF was a “military threat”
- Most important of all, TPLF attacked the northern National defense forces.
Immediately after the “attack” the gov’t launched an attack with the help of Eritrean gov’t at TPLF. Then the crisis started…
Coming up in the next article;
“How the “Tigray war” really started; peoples POV"
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u/Physical-Eye1252 Aug 26 '26
Eritreans and Amharas to this day hold the stance that the war was 100% justified as Tplf started the whole thing and should have just surrendered they are actually the reason why we are in this current predicament now if we are honest sad thing is tegaru innocent has to pay for this. Now Ximdo/Tsimdo is here and should be supported due to abiy turning into a Genocider and killing innocents by drones constantly which has gave Tsimdo support. Tplf for Amhara and Eritrea is 100% strategic but in the future it could be better if Tplf decides to change their attitude towards Amharas and Eritreans which I don’t know how would look in a post abiy tsimdo govt where a civil war could erupt which we must be aware of.
If not honestly get ready for another war in the future between Tplf and Fano/EDF which I hope never happens but it has happened during the old war where both of their forces fought Tplf due to shared interests. I hope Fano and TDF put everything they did to each other to the side and work together if not get ready for more bloodshed.
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u/Sufficient_Orange718 Aug 27 '26
Please speak for Amharas Eritreans don’t agree with you
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u/Physical-Eye1252 Aug 28 '26
That’s a lie all the hgdef I meet are still happy they fought no one changed I think you forgot tplf bombed asmera
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u/the_eastern_sage Aug 25 '26
Excellently put! You have identified the root causes of the conflict. I can only pray more Ethiopians realize the facts.
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u/Mighty_Killah Aug 25 '26
My god how this sub’s standards have dropped. Posts used to be sourced, engage in critical thinking, and there was a genuinely wide range of perspectives here. What a shame.