Ethnic Federalism in a Dominant Party State: The Ethiopian Experience 1991-2000 Lovise Aalen r 2002: 2

Party power in change – the internal split in TPLF
One of the events that might have an important impact on the federalisation
process in Ethiopia took place after my data collection was over. In March
2001, the party chairman of the TPLF and current Prime Minister, Meles
Zenawi, was challenged by an opposing fraction, headed by two party vice
chairmen and two party ideologists. At a TPLF central committee meeting, 12
committee members voted against Meles, while 16 voted in favour. The
dissenters, led by the senior Siye Abraha, claimed that Meles Zenawi had been
too compliant with the Eritreans during the war with Eritrea from May 1998 to
December 2000 (Indian Ocean Newsletter, March 24.2000). Meles is
considered to have little personal support in Tigray, while it is generally
believed that the dissenters have popular backing in the region (Tronvoll
2001). The opposing senior cadres were expelled from their positions within

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the party and the government. A month after the crack, most of the dissenters
were arrested on charges of corruption. Among the twelve dissenters were
Gebru Asrat, the President of Tigray region, and Bitew Belay, head of the
Regional Affairs Department at Prime Minister’s Office. As previously
mentioned, Bitew was one of the key TPLF cadres intervening in the various
regional states to ensure the interests of the ruling party.
The expulsion of the dissenters had a direct impact on the regional EPRDF
parties and their relations to the TPLF. Both in the OPDO and the SEPDF,
members of the chairmanship had to leave their positions, being accused of
conspiring with the dissenters and of corruption. The President of the Ethiopian
federation, Negasso Gidada, who was a member of the central and executive
committee of the OPDO, openly criticised the EPRDF leadership for intervening
in the internal affairs of the OPDO, and was dismissed from his positions in the