Tigray People's Liberation Front

The Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF; Tigrinya: ህዝባዊ ወያነ ሓርነት ትግራይ, lit. 'Popular Struggle for the Freedom of Tigray'), also called the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front, is a left-wing ethnic nationalist, paramilitary group, and the former ruling party of Ethiopia. It was classified as a terrorist organization by the Ethiopian government from May 2021 until its removal from the list in March 2023. In older texts and Amharic publications, it is known as Woyane (Tigrinya: ወያነ, lit. 'Revolutionary') or Wayane (Amharic: ወያኔ).

According to official figures, the TPLF was founded on February 18, 1975, in Dedebit, northwestern Tigray. Within 16 years, it grew from about a dozen men to become the most powerful armed "liberation" movement in Ethiopia. From 1988 to 2018, it led a political coalition, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). It fought a 15-year-long war against the Derg regime, which was overthrown on 28 May 1991. The TPLF was at the forefront of the Derg's defeat primarily because of its martial prowess.

The TPLF, with the support of the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF), overthrew the government of the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (PDRE) on May 28, 1991, and installed a new government that remained in power until the TPLF was removed from federal government control on 2 April 2018.

On 18 January 2021, the National Election Board of Ethiopia terminated the party's registration, citing acts of violence and rebellion committed by the party's leadership against the Federal government in 2020, as well as a lack of representation. On 6 May 2021, the Ethiopian House of Peoples' Representatives formally approved a parliamentary resolution designating the TPLF as a terrorist organization.

On 2 November 2022, the African Union brokered a deal in Pretoria, South Africa, between the two parties to end the Tigray War. As per the peace agreement, the TPLF began disarming in January 2023.