Rise and fall of Ethiopia’s TPLF – from rebels to rulers and back

Bloody offensive aims to eliminate Tigray People's Liberation Front, which dominated for nearly 30 years

In the centre of Mekelle, the highland capital of Tigray, is a complex of memorials and museums. Under the hot sun, old armoured vehicles, jets and helicopters rust quietly. On the city's wide avenues, statues commemorate the martyrs" and the victories of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), a small band of insurgents who became a guerrilla army, launched a successful rebellion and eventually ruled Africa's second most populous country for almost 30 years.

This week federal Ethiopian forces have closed in on Mekelle in the final stages of a bloody offensive launched earlier this month by Ethiopia's prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, with the aim of eliminating the TPLF as a political force.