Arena Tigray for Democracy and Sovereignty[1]
ዓረና ትግራይ ንዲሞክራሲን ንሉኣላዊነትን
AbbreviationArena Tigray
ChairpersonAbraha Desta (2020)[2]
FounderGebru Asrat
Foundedc. 2000[2]
National affiliationMedrek

Arena Tigray[2] or Arena Tigray For Democracy and Sovereignty[1][3] (Tigrinya: ዓረና ትግራይ ንዲሞክራሲን ንሉኣላዊነትን) is an Ethiopian political party based in the Tigray Region and participating in the Medrek coalition federally.

Creation

Arena Tigray was created by Gebru Asrat in the early 2000s, when he left the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) and the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front.[2] Addis Fortune counts Arena Tigray as the second oldest political party in Tigray Region.[3]

Leadership

Arena's first leader was Gebru Asrat.[2] In 2017, at Arena's fourth congress, Abraha Desta, a philosophy lecturer who had spent two years in prison under TPLF rule, was elected as the new chair.[4]

As of March 2021, Amdom Gebreselassie was head of public relations for Arena Tigray. He held the position of vice head of the Public Relations Bureau of the Transitional Government of Tigray until mid-March 2021, when he was dismissed by the federal government for publicly calling for legal action against perpetrators of sexual violence in the Tigray War and for attributing war crimes in the Tigray War to Amhara Region security forces and Eritrean Defence Forces.[5][6]

Politics

In 2019, Arena Tigray's leader, Gebru Asrat, was seen as a major leader of ethnic Tigray opposition in Tigray Region.[7]

Federalism

Arena joined the Medrek national coalition of political parties at the coalition's founding in 2008.[8] As of 2017, Arena continued to be active in Medrek.[4]

2020 Tigray regional election

In August 2020, prior to the 2020 Tigray regional election, Arena Tigray announced that it would boycott the election, in agreement with the National Election Board of Ethiopia (NEBE), on the grounds of "political provocations by the TPLF", the COVID-19 pandemic and what it saw as the illegitimacy of the election.[3]

Tigray War

On 3 February 2021, Arena Tigray party member Goitom Tsegay stated his long-term opposition to the TPLF and his opposition to the Tigray War, objecting to human rights violations by Fano and other Amhara militias and their taking control of Tigray Region territory, communication blocks and a lack of transparency, the extrajudicial executions of civilians, rape, the presence and role of the Eritrean Defence Forces (EDF) in the war, and starvation. Goitom stated that "many" Arena Tigray members were "wholly against the war" but had been unable to organise a formal meeting given the war situation. Goitom concluded that peace negotiations between the federal government and "Tigray militias and political parties" would be needed to return the region to "some normalcy".[9]

Claims of repression

In February 2020, Arena Tigray members reported harassment and physical attacks. Markos Gessese, a member of the Arena Tigray executive committee, was attacked en route to lodging a complaint about harassment. Arena claimed that the attacks and harassment were deliberate, planned and decided by the TPLF. The TPLF claimed that two members of Arena had been arrested under criminal law, not for political reasons, and described Arena's claims as intending to "divide the people of Tigray".[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Arena opposition party executive member attacked in Tigray, north Ethiopia". Borkena. 18 February 2020. Archived from the original on 16 December 2020. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "News: Tigray interim admin CEO says Mekelle gets new mayor, urges civil servants to resume work and cautions door-to-door search for unlawful firearms begins today". Addis Standard. 15 December 2020. Archived from the original on 16 December 2020. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
  3. 1 2 3 "Arena shies away from Tigray Regional election". Addis Fortune. 1 August 2020. Archived from the original on 16 December 2020. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
  4. 1 2 Abebe, Shiferaw (24 February 2017). "Ethiopia: Arena Tigray must convert itself into a national party". Nazret. Archived from the original on 16 December 2020. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
  5. ↑ Ekubamichael, Medihane (16 March 2021). "News: Tigray Interim Admin Officials say they are dismissed for speaking up against atrocities and destruction". Addis Standard. Archived from the original on 17 March 2021. Retrieved 18 March 2021.
  6. ↑ "Situation Report EEPA HORN No. 103 – 15 March 2021" (PDF). Europe External Programme with Africa. 15 March 2021. Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 March 2021. Retrieved 15 March 2021.
  7. ↑ "Tigray : New Secessionist sentiment as Gebru Asrat narrates it". Borkena. 21 October 2019. Archived from the original on 16 December 2020. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
  8. ↑ "Opposition holds 'Forum for Democratic Dialogue in Ethiopia'". Sudan Tribune. 3 July 2008. Archived from the original on 16 December 2020. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
  9. ↑ Tsegay, Goitom (3 February 2021). "For years I opposed the TPLF, but I also oppose this war on Tigray". Ethiopia Insight. Archived from the original on 4 February 2021. Retrieved 4 February 2021.
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