Joint Press Release on the Establishment of Interim Regional Administration Process in Tigray

Mekelle፡17 February 2023(Tigray Herald)

We have come to understand that there is a lot of talk spearheaded by the TPLF leadership about discussions to form an interim government in Tigray based on the permanent cessation of hostilities agreement signed in Pretoria, South Africa on November 2022. It has become abundantly clear that all that is being talked about is mainly a public relations gimmick aimed at revamping the seriously damaged political image of the TPLF. Sadly, we are being portrayed as if we are participating in this senseless campaign. We, however, would like to notify to all concerned that we have had no session with anyone regarding the issue of forming an interim government in Tigray apart from the preliminary encounter of the chair-persons of our respective parties with the self-appointed so-called interim government establishing committee. In this brief encounter, we raised several questions regarding how, when and why this committee was established and why the army, TPLF and the intelligentsia are the only sections of the society that are represented in the committee. The hope was that there would be continuous and inclusive discussions starting from this encounter. Alas, to our dismay we have witnessed a rush toward the public relations campaign whose aim is what we stated above. Now, we want to make it clear that if there is a genuine endeavor aimed at soliciting contributions from Tigrayans to form an all-inclusive platform, we are ready to join in and make our contributions. Otherwise, we are not willing to help the extension of the misery and suffering of our people by serving as stooges in TPLF’s ruthless struggle to cling to power at any cost.

Mekelle, Tigray