Tsadkan Gebretensae

Tsadkan Gebretensae (; born c.1953) is an Ethiopian former military officer and member of the central command of the Tigray Defense Forces. In 1976, Tsadkan joined Tigrayan People's Liberation Front (TPLF), becoming one of its main commanders in the Ethiopian Civil War. Following the war, he became chief of staff of the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF), rebuilding the force and leading it in the Eritrean-Ethiopian War. After the start of the Tigray War in 2020, he rejoined the Tigray's military leadership. He is widely regarded as one of Africa's best military thinkers and strategists.

Since 2023, he is serving as the vice president of Tigray region.

Biography Tsadkan was born in the first half of the 1950s (BBC article published on 1 July 2021 gives his age as 68, while The New York Times article published on 22 January 2021 gives his age as 66.) In youth he became friends with another future Tigrayan leader Meles Zenawi, and in 1976 Tsadkan dropped out of the Addis Ababa University's biology faculty to join the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front (TPLF). At the time the TPLF was a small and nascent rebel group fighting against the communist Ethiopian government in the Ethiopian Civil War. By the late 1980s he had distinguished himself as one of the TPLF's most popular field commanders. In May 1991, he led the TPLF's troops in the successful assault on the capital Addis Ababa.

Alex de Waal of the World Peace Foundation describes him as "one of the finest military strategists of his generation in Africa".

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