In February 1979 the TPLF held its first regular congress. It declared its struggle to be the second "wäyyanä" ("kalay wäyyanä") and changed its Tigrinya name to "Həzbayawi Wäyyanä Harənnätä Təgray". It adopted a new political program calling for self-determination within a democratic Ethiopia with independence as an option only if unity proved to be impossible.In retrospect, it is apparent that the 1978–1985 period further strengthened the TPLF. The Derg's increasingly alienating intervention, the Front's handling of the famine and of the refugee problems, as well as the foreign connections it built through its mission in Khartoum, all enabled the movement to mobilize and better equip more fighters and prepare for a change from guerrilla to frontal battles. Also, in the mid-1980s, developments within the TPLF led to a conceptual change from a struggle for the liberation of Tigray to that of all of Ethiopia. They established their headquarters in caves in Addi Geza'iti, some 50 kilometres west of Mekelle. The allied Ethiopian People's Democratic Movement (EPDM) party used caves in Melfa (Dogu'a Tembien).