Kefagn Patriotic Front

Last updated
Kefagn Patriotic Front
LeadersGeneral Haile Meles
Dates of operation1970s–1996 [1]
Allies Tigray People's Liberation Front
Ethiopian Revolutionary Party
Ethiopian Democratic Union

Kefagn Patriotic Front (KPF) is a political faction in Ethiopia. KPF emerged from a group of soldiers in the army of the regime of Mengistu Haile Mariam who refused to serve in the Eritrean War.

Originally known simply as "Kefagn", KPF was created to combat the incursions of the Tigray People's Liberation Front into Gondar Province. With the fall of the Mengistu regime this group declined in strength but was not eliminated. John Young recounts that in May 1993 he encountered government soldiers on the western shores of Lake Tana who had been wounded in clashes with dissidents in the area. He was told that these rebels were led by General Haile Meles, a former Derg official. [2]

Later in 1993, General Haile was wounded, and evacuated to Sudan, where government officials protected him and refused Ethiopian demands for his extradition. He continued to be a source of controversy in Sudanese–Ethiopian relations until he was granted asylum in New Zealand in late 1999. By the time he left Sudan, the KPF was in disarray, although the transfer of most of the area west of Lake Tana to the Benishangul-Gumuz Region, served to reactivate the group. Since then the Kefagn, which had since renamed itself as the Kefagn Patriotic Front, has received some assistance from the Sudan Armed Forces. [2]

In 1996 the majority of the KPF, based amongst guerrillas in Sudan and Ethiopia, joined the Ethiopian Unity Front. The minority, based in the United States, stayed out of EUF.[ citation needed ]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ethiopian National Defense Force</span> Military force of Ethiopia

The Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) is the military force of Ethiopia. Civilian control of the military is carried out through the Ministry of Defense, which oversees the Ground Forces, Air Force, Naval Force as well as the Defense Industry Sector.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mengistu Haile Mariam</span> Leader of Ethiopia from 1977 to 1991

Mengistu Haile Mariam is an Ethiopian former politician and former army officer who was the head of state of Ethiopia from 1977 to 1991 and General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Ethiopia from 1984 to 1991. He was the chairman of the Derg, the socialist military junta that governed Ethiopia, from 1977 to 1987, and the president of the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (PDRE) from 1987 to 1991.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aman Andom</span> Eritrean general (1924–1974)

Aman Mikael Andom was an Ethiopian general of Eritrean origin, and the first post-imperial acting head of state of Ethiopia. Aman was also the first Chairman of the Derg. He was appointed to this position following the coup d'état that ousted Emperor Haile Selassie on 12 September 1974, and served until his death in a shootout with his former supporters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tafari Benti</span> Military leader of Ethiopia from 1974 to 1977

Brigadier General Tafari Benti was an Ethiopian military officer and politician who served as head of state of Ethiopia from 1974 to 1977 in his role as second chairman of the Derg, the ruling military junta. His official title was Chairman of the Provisional Military Administrative Council.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Derg</span> 1974–1987 ruling military junta of Ethiopia

The Derg, officially the Provisional Military Administrative Council (PMAC), was the military dictatorship that ruled Ethiopia, then including present-day Eritrea, from 1974 to 1987, when the military leadership or junta formally "civilianized" the administration but stayed in power until 1991.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tamrat Layne</span> Prime Minister of Ethiopia from 1991 to 1995

Tamrat Layne Admassu is an Ethiopian former politician and a converted born-again Christian. He had served as Prime Minister of Ethiopia during the Transitional Government of Ethiopia after the end of the Derg regime. Previously during the 1980s, he was a leader of the Ethiopian People's Democratic Movement, one of the groups that fought against Ethiopian dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam in the Ethiopian Civil War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia</span> 1987–1991 socialist state existed in Ethiopia and Eritrea

The People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia was a socialist state that existed in Ethiopia and present-day Eritrea from 1987 to 1991.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eritrean War of Independence</span> 1961–1991 conflict within Ethiopia

The Eritrean War of Independence was a war for independence which Eritrean independence fighters waged against successive Ethiopian governments from 1 September 1961 to 24 May 1991.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ethiopian Civil War</span> 1974–1991 conflict in Ethiopia

The Ethiopian Civil War was a civil war in Ethiopia and present-day Eritrea, fought between the Ethiopian military junta known as the Derg and Ethiopian-Eritrean anti-government rebels from 12 September 1974 to 28 May 1991.

Articles related to Ethiopia include:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Red Terror (Ethiopia)</span> 1976–1978 political repression campaign in Ethiopia by the Derg

The Red Terror, also known as the Ethiopian Red Terror, was a violent political repression campaign of the Derg against other competing Marxist-Leninist groups in Ethiopia and present-day Eritrea from 1976 to 1978. The Qey Shibir was an attempt to consolidate Derg rule during the political instability after their overthrow of Emperor Haile Selassie in 1974 and the subsequent Ethiopian Civil War. The Qey Shibir was based on the Red Terror of the Russian Civil War, and most visibly took place after Mengistu Haile Mariam became chairman of the Derg on 3 February 1977. It is estimated that 10,000 to 980,000 people were killed over the course of the Qey Shibir.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SPLA-Nasir</span> South Sudanese guerrilla organisation (1991-2002)

The SPLA-Nasir was a splinter faction of the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), a rebel group that fought in the Second Sudanese Civil War. Originally created as an attempt by the Nuer tribe to replace SPLA leader John Garang in August 1991, it gradually became coopted by the government. The break away of Riek Machar from SPLM/A resulted in Nuer ethnic group massacring Garang's ethnic Dinka from Bor in the Bor massacre in 1991. This split resulted in the 1994 National Convention of New Sudan in Chukudum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Djiboutian Civil War</span> Civil War

The Djiboutian Civil War was a conflict in Djibouti, lasting from 1991 to 1994 and resulting in thousands of fatalities. The uneven power sharing between the Issas and the Afars led to the Civil War that ravaged the country for three years.

Tesfaye Dinka Yadessa was an Ethiopian politician who was Minister of Finance (1983–1986), Minister of Foreign Affairs (1989–1991), and Prime Minister of Ethiopia. He was the head of the delegation of the Ethiopian Government during the London Conference of 1991 which aimed to end the Ethiopian Civil War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1960 Ethiopian coup attempt</span> Attempted coup détat against Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie

The 1960 Ethiopian coup d'etat attempt was an attempted coup d'etat and a series of shootouts in the Ethiopian Empire on 13 December 1960 against Emperor Haile Selassie. The Council of the Revolution, four conspirators led by brothers Germame Neway and Brigadier General Mengistu Neway, commander of the Kebur Zabagna, sought to overthrow the Emperor during a state visit to Brazil in order to install a progressive government. The coup leaders declared the beginning of a new government under the rule of Haile Selassie's eldest son, Crown Prince Asfaw Wossen, that would address the numerous economic and social problems Ethiopia faced. The Council gained control of most of the capital city, Addis Ababa, and took several ministers and other important people hostage. After its initial success, the majority of the military and populace quickly aligned against the coup, and by 17 December loyalists had regained control of Addis Ababa. At least 300 people were killed during the coup, including most of the conspirators.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Transitional Government of Ethiopia</span> 1991–1995 provisional government of Ethiopia

The Transitional Government of Ethiopia (TGE) was an era established immediately after the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) seized power from the Marxist-Leninist People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (PDRE) in 1991. During the transitional period, Meles Zenawi served as the president of the TGE while Tamrat Layne was prime minister. Among other major shifts in the country's political institutions, it was under the authority of the TGE that the realignment of provincial boundaries on the basis of ethnolinguistic identity occurred. The TGE was in power until 1995, when it transitioned into the reconstituted Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia that remains today.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ethiopian Unity Patriots Front</span> Political party and militant rebel organization in Ethiopia

The Ethiopian Unity Patriots Front is a political party and militant rebel organization that waged an insurgency against the Ethiopian government from 1993 to 2012. Formed by ex-officials of the Derg regime, the EUPF was mostly active in Ethiopia's Gambela Region as well as eastern Sudan and South Sudan. The group agreed to a ceasefire with the Ethiopian government in 2012, and officially ended its insurgency in 2016. The EUPF remains active, however, and its armed wing has reportedly been involved in the South Sudanese Civil War, although to what extent is disputed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tigrayan nationalism</span> Ethnic nationalism

Tigrayan nationalism is an ethnic nationalism that advocates the interests of Tigrayan people in Ethiopia. Inspired predominantly by the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) with its predecessor Tigray Liberation Front (TLF), this type of nationalism holds that Tigrayans are an independent group with unique ancestry, heritage, history and culture outside Ethiopia. As such, they claim Tigray is the source of Ethiopian civilization and utterly a benefactor of state-building without other local ethnic groups. Tigrayan nationalist accuse Amhara imperial dominance of oppressing their identity despite the fact that both Amhara and Tigray emperors have contributed to the creation of modern Ethiopia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fall of the Derg regime</span> 1991 downfall of the Ethiopian ruling junta

The fall of the Derg, also known as Downfall of the Derg, was a military campaign that resulted the defeat of the ruling military junta Derg by the rebel coalition Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) on 28 May 1991 in Addis Ababa, ending the Ethiopian Civil War. The Derg took power after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie and the Solomonic dynasty, an imperial dynasty of Ethiopia that began in 1270. The Derg suffered insurgency with different factions, and separatist rebels groups since early their rule, beginning with the Ethiopian Civil War. The 1983–1985 famine, the Red Terror, and resettlement and villagization infamed the Derg with majority of Ethiopians tended to support insurgent groups like the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) and Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF).

This list details about chronological aspect of the Derg, the military junta that ruled Ethiopia from 1974 to 1987 by decade.

References

  1. "Information on the Kefean Patriotic Front (KPF), including its leaders, aims, and activities and influential members inside and outside Ethiopia including the United States of America". Refworld. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  2. 1 2 John Young, Armed Groups along Sudan's Eastern Frontier: An overview and analysis Archived 2012-03-16 at the Wayback Machine (Geneva: Small Arms Survey, Graduate Institute of International Studies, 2007), pp. 25f