Toronto – Sudan’s Rapid Support Force (RSF) which is fighting Sudan’s Defense Force this week alleges that the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) forces are fighting in the war in Sudan on the part of government forces- Sudanese Armed Forces.
Tigray’s Interim Government has stated in response to the allegation. While the Interim Tigray Regional government is not TPLF, at least legally speaking, it defended the TPLF in the statement it released and at some point insinuated that TPLF is Tigray.
The statement from the office of Getachew Reda, president of the Interim Administration, sees the allegation from RSF as an effort on the part of RSF to “internationalize the conflict” to garner international support for its case.
“The Interim Administration of Tigray vehemently denies and strongly condemns, the baseless claim made by the RSF that ‘TPLF forces’ were fighting alongside the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) in its fight against the former,” said the statement from the interim government.
The statement also went on to make a case that the TPLF is a political party and does not have armed forces. It said, “The TPLF is a political party…it has no armed wing nor does it command an organized militia or some other entity.” This year Getachew Reda was on record saying that the TPLF does have 270,000 armed forces.
The Interim Administration also attempted to paint an image of “brotherly relation” with Sudan and that it can not be involved in its internal affairs. It said, “The people of Tigray have long-standing brotherly relations with the Sudanese people that have stood the test of time.” It also portrayed Sudan as a “safe haven” for Tigreans “when they were uprooted from their homes in Western Tigray.”
There had been reports, during the war between the TPLF and Abiy Ahmed’s government, that TPLF forces who were involved in the Maikadra Massacre fled to Sudan where they were seeking “refugee status.” In May 2021, the Ethiopian Defense Force announced that there were armed TPLF forces based in Sudan. Some were captured while attempting to enter Ethiopia from the Humera area.
The TPLF is now believed to have formed a military and political alliance with Abiy Ahmed’s party and has recently controlled many areas in Alamata displacing over 50,000 civilians.
