Ever since early November 2020, a conflict in Ethiopia between the government in Addis Ababa and the Tigray region has cost thousands of lives and displaced millions of people. Despite the increasing brutality of the conflict in Tigray, it has been largely overlooked by the outside world. But attention and concern are growing with news of the alleged worsening of the refugee crisis. Attacks have raged in northern Ethiopia in early November, when the government launched a military offensive against the ruling group in the Tigray region, igniting a conflict that has claimed thousands of lives, displaced over 2 million people, and driven tens of thousands of them
According to the United Nations and local authorities, the war in Tigray has exacerbated ethnic tensions and generated a massive humanitarian crisis, with 4.5 million people — the majority of the country's population in despairing need of relief. The unrest is spilling over Ethiopia's borders into Eritrea and Sudan, threatening to destabilize the Horn of Africa region as a whole.
Tigray is Ethiopia's northernmost region. Bordering Eritrea, it is home to most of the country's estimated 7 million ethnic Tigrayans. The ethnic group, which makes up around 6% of Ethiopia's population, has a great influence on national affairs. In
September 2020, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) which is a local group that dominated Ethiopia’s government was removed by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s party in 2019. Amidst the covid pandemic, national elections were constitutionally postponed but the TPLF held regional elections in the Tigray region, northern Ethiopia. As a result tensions between the TPLF and the national government quickly escalated, the culmination of the feud eventually lead to the outbreak of the conflict.
In early November, the Tigray Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF)- a leftist political party that controls the Tigray- launched a full-scale attack on a major Ethiopian Army base at Sero and alleged trying to steal artillery and other weapons. Calling the TPLF assault a "treason that will never be forgotten," Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on 4 November 2020, ordered military actions against the TPLF, leading to fighting breakouts across.
In Tigray, hundreds of thousands of people have fled their homes but remain in the region according to the United Nation large number of people are unable to outside the major cities such as the regional capital of Mekele. The exact number of displaced people across the region is still unknown, most of them have fled with little to no possessions-just a few clothes tied to their back- they are in desperate need of assistance and basic livelihood necessities. Over recent times the number of people arriving in the towns of Shire and Axum has multiplied.
The volatile conditions in Tigray have claimed thousands of lives of people, The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights stated on 4 March that “serious violations of international law, possibly amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity may have been committed by multiple actors in the conflict”. Refugees are subjected to sexual violence, large-scale looting, and ethnic-based target violence allegedly by Ethiopia’s military, Eritrean troops, and ethnic militias.
Ethiopia prior to the war was hit with the worst desert locust invasion in decades which has aggravated the chronic food shortage in Tigray making the conditions dire. Aid agencies estimate more than two-thirds of the population needs an emergency food supply. The federal government states to be delivering food aid to 4.2 million people in Tigray. Access to health care remains highly limited, seeing an increase in the number of women dying during childbirth and children are prone to various diseases along with malnutrition-low immunity. As of early March, 87% of health facilities are no longer functioning hence worsening the situation.
A long war would completely destroy Ethiopia’s overall stability hence affecting the Horn of Africa. Alleged acts of barbarity by Ethiopian and Eritrean forces have raged widespread anger leading to the increase in Tigray’s resistance.
★ Reference links
★ https://reports.unocha.org/en/country/ethiopia/
★ https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/04/1090152
★ https://www.crisisgroup.org/africa/horn-africa/ethiopia
★ https://www.crisisgroup.org/africa/horn-africa/ethiopia/b171-ethiopias-tigray -war-deadly-dangerous-stalemate
★ https://www.bbc.com/news/topics/cr2pnx1173dt/tigray-crisis
★ https://www.cfr.org/in-brief/conflict-ethiopias-tigray-region-what-know
★ https://edition.cnn.com/2021/03/04/europe/ethiopia-tigray-un-independent probe-war-crimes-intl/index.html
by Omnya Mohamed Izzeldin!
Comments