Ethiopia: Rebel Leader Appointed To Head Regional Government

The Ethiopian government on Thursday appointed a Tigrayan rebel figure to head the interim government of the northern region, a major step in the implementation of a peace deal signed by the two sides after two years of civil war.

"Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has appointed Getachew Reda as chairman of the interim administration of the Tigray region," Ahmed's office said in a statement.

Getachew Reda, an assistant to Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) commander Debretsion Gebremichael, was previously the movement's spokesperson.

Ethiopian MPs withdrew the TPLF from the list of terrorist groups on Wednesday, as stipulated in the peace accord reached by the rebel movement and the Ethiopian government in Pretoria last November.

The elimination of the terrorist classification prepared the stage for the formation of an "inclusive" interim Tigrayan regional administration, which was also included in the deal and would be led by the TPLF until elections could be held.

Getachew Reda previously served as Minister of Information in Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn's Ethiopian federal cabinet from 2012 to 2018.

He has now become the public face of the TPLF, for whom he signed the Pretoria Agreement, brokered by the African Union (AU), with Abiy Ahmed's National Security Adviser, Redwan Hussein.

According to the peace agreement, fighting has ceased, basic services (electricity, telecommunications, banks, etc.) have begun to be restored in Tigray, and access to the region - which had been virtually cut off from the rest of the world for nearly two years - has been reopened, particularly to humanitarian aid, on which 90% of its six million inhabitants rely.