TPLF Says “We Continue to Have Back-channel Communication” with Abiy Government

June 22, 2022

Getachew Reda during press briefing with Tigray TV (Photo : screenshot from Tigray TV video) 

Borkena 

In a press briefing with Tigray TV reporters, Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) spokesperson (also “Tigray Military Command” spokesperson), Getachew Reda said that his organisation continues to have back-channel communication with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government. 

“We haven’t had yet any direct engagement with Abiy’s government but we still continue to have back-channel communication,” he said. 

The Ethiopian government had been denying, for a long time, any backdoor negotiation with the TPLF.  

The government of Eritrea has been making its stand clear that the TPLF constitutes danger to the entire Horn of Africa region but has not yet remarked about the proposed peace talk between the government of Ethiopia and TPLF – which is expected to take place in Tanzania/Ethiopia. 

Recalling Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s speech in parliament last week, the expression of interest in negotiation with “the government of Tigray” aligns with the message that has been communicated through an interlocutor who has been doing shuttle diplomacy, he added. 

The TPLF sees “heightened interest in peace” on the part of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government. Getachew Reda explained that perception of TPLF with what he described as “objective reality in Ethiopia.” 

“The Objective reality in Ethiopia dictates the adoption of a peaceful approach to resolve the conflict. Because Ethiopia is in doldrums.”  

The TPLF has expressed a stand, although unclear whether it is a precondition or otherwise, that the issue of referendum and self-determination is not something that it is not ready to give up.