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Toronto – The 14th congress of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) concluded on Monday. It re-elected Debretsion Gebremical as its chairman.
Amanuel Assefa is elected as deputy chairman, replacing Getachew Reda whom the Debretsion faction of TPLF removed along with 16 other central committee and audit committee members for not attending the congress.
The faction also elected 45 central committee members and nine executives. Leya Kassa, Fetlework Gebregriabier, Fisseha Haftetsion, Abraham Tekeste, Redai Berke, Solomon Kidane and Teklay Gebremedhin are in the executive team, according to sources. The TPLF was conducting what it called 14th congress under closed conditions.
The other faction argues the congress as illegal due to alleged infraction of party rules. The official and the latest cause for the schism within the party are said to be the 14th congress and the registration process with the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia(NEBE). The party was designated as a terrorist party after it launched an attack on the northern command of the Ethiopian Defense Force. A new proclamation that was declared a few months ago allowed the TPLF to reapply with the Board.
Processes, procedures and timing of the 14th congress and registration with NEBE were the causes that parted ways between the two factions within the party.
Getachew Reda, president of Interim Tigray Administration and TPLF deputy chairman, accused the Debretsion faction of conducting an illegal Party Congress and submitting a fraudulent document to the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia.
In his latest press conference in Mekelle, Getachew Reda expressed concern that the Debretsion faction of the TPLF might attempt usurping power and called on the security forces in the region to stay neutral and not to be an instrument for the Debretsion Group.
Getachew Reda and the remaining 16 party officials, whom the Debretsion faction removed this week, held their own meeting on Sunday in Mekelle under the theme “Saving TPLF.”
Last week on Monday, the NEBE released a statement saying that the TPLF’s congress violates the proclamation and that the decision from the congress will not be accepted.
According to NEBE, which cites legislation, the party was required to notify the Board 21 days before its congress to allow the authoritative body verify the fairness of the process leading to the outcome of the Congress. NEBE observers were also supposed to attend the congress as observers but all that did not happen. If the TPLF is not accepting the NEBE decision, it may mean another conflict in the region. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has been openly warning about the consequences of not observing the laws.
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Heman Bekele, who won 3M’s Young Scientist Challenge in 2023 after inventing a soap that could someday help treat and prevent skin cancer, has been named TIME’s 2024 Kid of the Year. Bekele, a ninth grader from Virginia, was named “America’s Top Young Scientist” after he invented a $.50 bar of soap to treat skin cancer.
These days, a whole lot of people are paying him a whole lot of attention. Last October, the 3M company and Discovery Education selected Heman, a rising 10th-grader at Woodson High School in Fairfax County, Virginia, as the winner of its Young Scientist Challenge. His prize: $25,000. His accomplishment: inventing a soap that could one day treat and even prevent multiple forms of skin cancer.
It’s that ambition—to say nothing of that selflessness—that has earned Heman recognition as TIME’s Kid of the Year for 2024.
Born in Addis Ababa before emigrating to the U.S. with his family when he was 4, Heman recalls that some of his earliest memories were of seeing laborers working in the blistering sun, usually with no protection for their skin. His parents taught him and his sisters—Hasset, now 16, and Liya, now 7—to cover up, and explained the dangers of too much time outdoors without sunscreen or proper clothing.
3M engineer Deboarh Isabelle, who was Heman’s mentor during the Young Scientist Challenge competition, said the TIME Kid of the Year honor was well deserved.
“Heman is an incredible charismatic, curious, intelligent, articulate young man,” Deboarh said. “But more than that, he’s compassionate and has a heart for people. He’s created an invention that has the potential to the make the world better for so many people.”
A bar of soap, he reckoned, might be just the delivery system for such a lifesaving drug, not just because it was simple, but because it would be a lot more affordable than the $40,000 it typically costs for skin-cancer treatment.
time.com/heman-bekele/
Ethiopian government spokesperson Nebiyu Tedla told the BBC they are “preparing contingency plans to evacuate diplomats and citizens from Lebanon if necessary”.
However, Ms Banchi makes the point that even before the Israel-Gaza conflict, there were already many Ethiopian women stranded in Lebanon desperate to leave.
A collapse in Lebanon’s economy in 2020 left many Ethiopian domestic workers out of a job.
“Many cannot even afford rent or medical assistance, let alone a flight home,” she says.
While foreign embassies continue to work on evacuation plans, many feel they have been abandoned by their governments to fend for themselves.
Panicked African workers prevented from leaving Lebanon
BBC News, London & Nairobi