The Ethiopian government on Thursday put a top man of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) in charge of the regional interim government. The appointment comes a day after parliament removed the rebel movement from the terror list.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has appointed Getachew Reda as the chairman of the interim government of the Tigray region. Before the war, Getachew Reda served as Minister of Information in the Ethiopian federal government for four years. Within the TPLF, he took on the role of diplomat, becoming the voice of the rebel movement to the international media.
The TPLF ruled Ethiopia for three decades, until the arrival of Prime Minister Ahmed in 2018 overthrew them. After almost two years of bloody civil war, the Ethiopian government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front reached a peace agreement in early November. This ended the blockade of the region in northern Ethiopia.