Kefagn Patriotic Front (KPF) is a political faction in

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

. KPF emerged from a group of soldiers in the army of the regime of

Mengistu Haile Mariam Mengistu Haile Mariam (, pronunciation: ; born 21 May 1937) is an Ethiopian former politician, revolutionary, and military officer who served as the head of state of Ethiopia from 1977 to 1991. He was General Secretary of the Workers' Party o ...

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 The Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF; ), also known as the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front, is a left-wing Ethnic nationalism, ethnic nationalist, paramilitary group, and the former ruling party of Ethiopia. It was classified as a ter ...

into

Gondar Province Begemder (; also known as Gondar or Gonder) was a province in northwest Ethiopia. The alternative names come from its capital during the 20th century, Gondar. Etymology A plausible source for the name ''Bega'' is that the word means "dry" in th ...

. 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 Lake Tana (; previously transcribed Tsana) is the largest lake in Ethiopia and a source of the Blue Nile. Located in Amhara Region in the north-western Ethiopian Highlands, the lake is approximately long and wide, with a maximum depth of , and ...

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.John Young
''Armed Groups along Sudan's Eastern Frontier: An overview and analysis''
(Geneva: Small Arms Survey, Graduate Institute of International Studies, 2007), pp. 25f Later in 1993, General Haile was wounded, and evacuated to

Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

, 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 Benishangul-Gumuz () is a regional state in northwestern Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Er ...

, 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. In 1996, the majority of the KPF, based amongst guerrillas in

and Ethiopia, joined the Ethiopian Unity Front. The minority, based in the United States, stayed out of EUF.

References

Factions of the Ethiopian Civil War Political parties in Ethiopia Rebel groups in Ethiopia {{Ethiopia-party-stub