Mortaza JNF Mortaza JNF Sahibzada 3

Democratic Movement (see below), were finally subordinated to the ethno-federalist agenda of the TPLF and, later, Amhara nationalist groups also sprung up as the intercommunal violence escalated (the latter is reflected in some of today’s protest groups who use the slogan ‘One Amhara’ rather than ‘One Ethiopia’). The overriding conflict between Amhara and Tigray peoples occurs despite their shared religious heritage4. Whereas the killing of Amhara elites and diplomats began in 1974 under the Derg junta, the mass violence against Amhara, including intellectuals and civic leaders, started in 1991 as the TPLF gained control. The scale of attacks intensified even as a transitional government was formed in that year, largely controlled by the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), a coalition of parties that ushered in the realignment of regional boundaries on the basis of ethnolinguistic identity and would dominate Ethiopian politics for 27 years (1991-2018). The EPRDF comprised the TPLF as the dominant partner along with three other parties, as follows. The Ethiopian People’s Democratic Movement was formed as a splinter of the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Party that was prominent in the 1974 student movement, as already noted; this was originally a pan-Ethiopian movement, but as some its members came to be allied with the TPLF it became more identified with ethnicity and region; it changed its name to the Amhara National Democratic Movement in 1994 when the new constitution based on ethno-federalism was instituted and has been accused of disciplining the Amhara people instead of representing them (much like the Palestinian Authority); toward the end of the EPRDF period it was renamed to the Amhara Democratic Party. Next, the Oromo People’s Democratic Organization was formed ad hoc from Oromo-speaking war prisoners captured by the TPLF; it was not popular, given the ongoing conflict between the TPLF and the OLF, and prominent members of the Oromo community rejecting the TPLF call to join an ethnicity-oriented coalition; toward the end of the EPRDF period it was renamed the Oromo Democratic Party. Finally, and the Southern Ethiopian People’s Democratic Movement was formed out of the Southern Ethiopia People’s Democratic Front. As indicated, the TPLF vision for regional demarcations took shape in the early 90s. It would be enshrined in Article 39 of the 1994 constitution (Nations, Nationalism and Self-Determination of Peoples) granting rights to any ethnic group to regional autonomy and if necessary, secession. The impetus being to extend the boundaries of its ethnic dominion, a greater Tigray region was envisaged that involved the annexation of lands from neighbouring provinces, resulting in sporadic massacres, disappearances, and ethnic cleansing of the Amhara population. Immediately after the TPLF gained control through the transitional government of 1991, the Raya- Alamata and Welkait lands were annexed into the Tigray region; then Gondar and Bethe-Amhara Wollo were occupied (these lands have been ruled as southern and western parts of Tigray for three decades, but since late 2020 Amhara have been fighting to regain access to these historical lands). Likewise Metekel, previously part of the historic Gojjur province, a strategic area with access to the Blue Nile river, was apportioned to the Benishangul-Gumuz region to moderate the geographical distribution of the Amhara population and the sphere of their influence (intercommunal conflict in Metekel has raged in particular since 2019 with the involvement of Sudan and Egypt, who oppose the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam hydroelectric project in Metekel, claiming exclusive rights to the Nile water that originates in Ethiopia, based on illegitimate colonial- era treaties that sought to diminish the influence of an impenetrable Ethiopia). With the ongoing violence