The growing split within the Tigray People's Liberation Front, or TPLF, risks triggering a resurgence of violence in Ethiopia's northern Tigray region, which would give Egypt, Somalia and Eritrea opportunities to increase their leverage over Addis Ababa, and could delay external financial support to Ethiopia. On Sept. 18, allies of Tigray interim regional administration leader Getachew Reda accused TPLF members of plotting a coup against the regional government and urged authorities to "restore order." This came amid a rapidly widening rift within the TPLF between a Getachew-led faction and another led by TPLF chair Debretsion Gebremichael. The spat escalated after the National Election Board of Ethiopia, or NEBE, refused in August to fully reinstate the legal status the TPLF held before the November 2020-November 2022 Tigray war, instead deeming it a new political party under "special consideration." Debretsion denounced the NEBE's decision and convened a TPLF congress in violation of...
