Abstract:
Struggle and civil wars among different opposition groups and the military government characterized the last quarter of the twentieth century in the history of Ethiopia. A preliminary and most strong opposition group against the military government was theEthiopian people’s Revolutionary party. The EPRP directed stubborn resistance against the Därg on behalf of its army wing, the EPRA. TheEthiopian students established the EPRP abroad in 1972. Soon it come in to Ethiopia and conducted both urban and rural armed struggle against the PMAC. Its urban-based armed struggle, however, soon faced severe blow, and turned to rural based guerrilla fighting. Initially, the EPRA was based at Assimba, Tigray. However, because of its interest to extend its operational base, the EPRA crossed Tekezze River and reached Ţälämt in January 1976. Finally, in 1978 it totally left out the Tigray province due to the attack from the TPLF. From its base, Ţälämt the EPRA had been operating successive operations against the Därg and been gaining success over them. However, this initial repercussion did not last long. The resistance and the operations that faced internal disagreement lack of coordination and crisis failed to with stand the Därg’s consecutive large-scale attack also called Käbo MaţeqatZämäča in the summer of 1980. Besides, to the Därg’s well-equipped army attack, the EPRA suffered huge lose in a fighting with the TPLF. Thus, the EPRA sandwiched between the force of the Därg in the south and the TPLF in the north. Desperate on the resumption of the resistance, the EPRA in Ţälämt disintegrated and dispersed in to different directions in November 1980. This research highlights many importance points. It tried to examine the reason why the EPRP/A stood against the PMAC and made stiff resistance. In this regard, an attempt is made to investigate the historical, social, economic and political prevalence of the EPRA’s armed resistance in Ţälämt between 1976 and 1980. The research, therefore, attempted to fill in some gap in the study area.