The party is expected to have its first Press conference on Saturday in the capital Addis Ababa. Getachew Reda who was leading one faction of the TPLF was ousted from the top position in Tigray just weeks before the official end of his term.
The ideological standing of the new party is undisclosed at this point, However, there are speculations that it is likely to be a party with “liberal political convictions.”
Getachew and his colleague are said to have a significant political support base in the Tigray region of Ethiopia. In the realm of diplomacy, he seems to have built a good rapport with western diplomats when he was serving as the public relation of the TPLF party and as president of the Interim Administration.
Meanwhile, there are reports that youth from across the Tigray region of Ethiopia are gathering in Afar Region with a resolve to challenge the Debretsion Faction of the TPLF militarily.
After chasing Getachew Reda from the region, the other faction has been controlling much of Tigray especially in the north and west by force. The same group is alleged to have formed a political and military alliance with the Eritrean government. According to local reports, there is increasing resentment among the youth towards the TPLF. They allege that the organization is taking the region to war again – a sentiment that seems to be shared by opposition parties operating in the region. The group that is forming the Semert party reflects similar views.
The war that was fought between the Federal government and the TPLF (November 2020 to November 2022) is said to have claimed more than 600,000 lives from the region. After the war, there was a pattern that a considerable number of youth from the region resorted to migration often opting for a dangerous and risky route to the gulf region.
