Small but mighty people
The region of Tigray, a vast hilly and arid area, is named after the Tigrinya-speaking Tigray people, Ethiopia’s fourth largest ethnic group who are less than 10% of the country’s people.
In spite of the relatively small number of Tigrayans in the country, the TPLF, which represents the region and purports to represent the people, has shaped post-Cold War Ethiopia more than any other political organization in the country.
In 1991, the TPLF led a coalition of militias and movements to overthrow the communist People’s Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. After that, the group was part of governing coalitions, and at a point produced a prime minister in the late Meles Zenawi.
Due to disagreements with Abiy Ahmed‘s Progress Party in 2019, the TPLF left his governing coalition.
