The TPLF-dominated EPRDF replaced the existing administrative regions called kifle-hagers and organized the country into regional states based on ethnicity and language. The EPRDF’s opponents believe this federal system resulted in ethnic conflicts that linger to this day.
As part of the arrangements, ethnically non-Tigrayan and non-Tigrigna speaking communities from the then Gondar and Wollo kifle-hagers (now parts of Amhara Regional State) became part of Tigray Regional State. Members of these communities were never happy at their inclusion in Tigray, but the TPLF largely crushed any resistance.
I was in high school then in the district and recollect the events that followed the incorporation of Raya into Southern Tigray Zone. When the Rayan people asked to be recognized as Rayan in 1993, the Tigray authorities responded to peaceful demonstrators with live bullets. Eyewitnesses said Tigray’s government detained youth en masse and killed students.
Following the removal of most TPLF officials from the federal government, Rayan activists brought the tense relationship between Tigray and the Rayan people to the attention of Addis Ababa.
According to local sources, on July 2018, the confrontation between regional security forces and the people of Waja-Timuga caused the death of two young men, Alemu Biruye and Adino Belay. The community leader said that as a result the federal government sent the military and deployed two battalions in the Waja-Timuga area. Following the deployment of the battalions, the regional forces left the area and settled in the Mehony area.
The Rayan Identity and Self Administration Grand Committee leaders said that on on Aug. 17, the head of the security forces deployed in Korem shot dead an innocent person who went by the name Zinabu America. These sources ascertain that the only thing that the victim said was: “I am not a Tigraway, I am a Rayan; and Korem is not Tigray, it is Raya.”
In the ensuing days, Tigray sent security forces that were settled in the Mehony area via the southern route to Korem via the serpentine road of Grat Kahsu. Also, another battalion was sent from the North to Korem via Maichew.
According to sources, they detained youth and took them to secret detention centers, where they remain. Eyewitnesses said security forces also went to Alamata and Waja-Timuga. The region recruited close to 30,000 potential militiamen, who were taken to training facilities in central Tigray. The new militia have been promised 2,000 Birr each a month after they complete their training and shall be deployed to control their communities.
The Rayan people want administrative autonomy within Amhara region, as the Rayan people have closer affinity with Amhara. The first step would be a referendum, but that needs to be approved by Tigray’s government.
TPLF informants advise that Tigray plans to set up three militia brigades named Walta, Dejen and Amoraw, each with 3,500 trained and armed militias to be deployed in the coming months. According to the sources, Walta brigade will be deployed in the hills surrounding Raya Waja while the Dejen and Amoraw brigades are planned to be deployed in greater Alamata and Odadima areas, respectively.
On Oct. 21, thousands of demonstrators peacefully marched through the main square of Alamata town voicing opposition to their inclusion in Tigray. In response, regional forces reportedly killed nine and wounded 20.
After the Rayan activists highlighted the issue, the youth in some Amhara towns prevented the shipment of sheep and grains to Tigray, protesting against the killing of innocent Rayan youth. The activists are working hard to bring to light every crime that TPLF commits on the Rayan people.
In outspoken opposition to the Raya policy, Zadig Abraha, a former federal state minister, has left TPLF. Andargu Berhe, an ex-diplomat at the Ethiopian Embassy in Kenya, and currently the Sudan desk expert in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, also resigned from the party.
With increasingly widespread acknowledgement of the injustice of the situation, there is a need for the government in Addis Ababa to listen to the Rayan people’s grievances before it deteriorates further.