IPIS Briefing August 2021 – Ethiopia-Tigray Conflict

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Source: IPIS Briefing August 2021

The IPIS briefing offers a selection of articles, news and updates on natural resources, armed conflict, Business & Human Rights and arms trade. Every month, an editorial and related publications shed a light on a specific topic in IPIS’ areas of research.

U.S. Response To The Human Rights Crisis In Ethiopia’s Tigray Conflict | 30 August 2021 | The Organization for World Peace

When Ethiopia elected Abiy Ahmed to be the prime minister in 2018, the international community looked optimistically on the country’s future. In 2019, the new prime minister disintegrated the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), which was led by the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), the ruling party in Ethiopia since 1991. Abiy successfully negotiated for peace over border disputes with the neighbouring nation Eritrea, winning him a Nobel Peace Prize in 2019, and instituted a number of promising reforms.

Ethiopia on diplomatic campaign in East Africa as int’l pressure mounts | 30 August 2021 | Borkena

In what appears to be a move to deepen diplomatic ties with countries in the region, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed met with leaders from three countries in a span of less than a week.

Women in Tigray Face Increased Risk of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse Amid Humanitarian Crisis | 26 August 2021 | Refugees International | ReliefWeb

The world has watched as long-standing political and ethnic rivalries in Ethiopia have turned into active conflict and horrific mass atrocities in the northern region of Tigray.

Ethiopia Risks U.S. Trade Access on Tigray Rights Violations | 26 August 2021 | Bloomberg

The humanitarian crisis in Ethiopia’s northern region could affect Ethiopia’s eligibility to export goods to the U.S. under the African Growth and Opportunity Act, according to the U.S. Trade Representative.

U.S., EU warn of influx of Eritrean troops in Ethiopia’s Tigray | 24 August 2021 | Reuters

The United States and European Union are raising alarm over the recent deployment of troops from Eritrea to Ethiopia’s Tigray region, where nine months of war have killed thousands of people and sparked a worsening humanitarian crisis.

Ethiopia acquires Iranian UAVs for Tigray War | 23 August 2021 | DefenceWeb

In the latest effort to halt the advancing Tigray Defence Force (TDF) and Oromo Liberation Army (OLA), it appears Ethiopia has purchased several Iranian-made Mohajer-6 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

Ethiopia grateful to Russia for its position on Tigray crisis, Ambassador to Moscow says | 23 August 2021 | TASS

Ethiopia is discussing the crisis in the Tigray region with the Russian side at various levels and is grateful to Russia for its position on this issue, Ethiopian Ambassador to Moscow Alemayehu Tegenu Aargau said in an interview with TASS.

Sanctioning Eritrean Military Leader in Connection with Human Rights Abuse in Ethiopia | 23 August 2021 | U.S. Department of State

The United States is designating the Eritrean Defense Forces (EDF) Chief of Staff General Filipos Woldeyohannes (Filipos) for his connection with serious human rights abuse committed during the ongoing conflict in Ethiopia. Filipos is designated pursuant to Executive Order 13818, which builds upon and implements the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act and targets perpetrators of serious human rights abuse and corruption around the world. Filipos commands all of the EDF forces that have committed serious human rights abuses in Ethiopia throughout the conflict.

Ethiopia’s Tigray crisis: US accuses Abiy’s government of blocking aid | 21 August 2021 | BBC

The US international development agency has blamed the Ethiopian government for a shortage of humanitarian aid in the country’s conflict-torn Tigray region.

UN chief gravely concerned over ‘unspeakable violence’ in Tigray | 19 August 2021 | UN News

Speaking outside the Security Council chamber on Thursday, UN chief António Guterres told journalists that he is gravely concerned about the situation in Ethiopia, particularly the “unspeakable violence” against women and others in Tigray.

Violence in Tigray Threatens Ethiopia’s Already Fragile Stability | 18 August 2021 | Foreign Policy Research Institute

The ongoing violence between the Ethiopian central government and the Tigray Peoples’ Liberation Front (TPLF), which began in 2020, has Ethiopia at a crossroads. An ancient kingdom that stood as a powerful state between the Roman Empire and Persia and home of the earliest hominids on Earth, Ethiopia’s written history dates from the time of King Solomon. The country was ruled by emperors from the Zagwe dynasty in the 9th century until 1974 when Haile Selassie, the last emperor of the Solomonic dynasty, was overthrown and the communist Provisional Military Government of Socialist Ethiopia took control of the country.

Ethnic Tigrayans Forcibly Disappeared | 18 August 2021 | Human Rights Watch

Ethiopian authorities since late June 2021 have arbitrarily detained, forcibly disappeared, and committed other abuses against ethnic Tigrayans in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa. The authorities should immediately account for Tigrayans’ forcibly disappeared, release those being held without credible evidence of a crime, and end all discriminatory treatment.

TDF accuses UN of lying as Tigray conflict escalates | 15 August 2021 | Garowe

The Tigray Defense Forces [TDF] has accused a top UN body of misleading the public over alleged deaths at Galicoma in the Afar region, where the separatist group was blamed for opening fire, killing children, and innocent women.

Ethiopia: “I don’t know if they realized I was a person”: Rape and sexual violence in the conflict in Tigray, Ethiopia (AFR 25/4569/2021) | 11 August 2021 | Amnesty International

During the conflict that began on 4 November 2020 in Tigray – Ethiopia’s northernmost region – troops fighting in support of the federal government have committed widespread rape against ethnic Tigrayan women and girls. The perpetrators include members of the Eritrean Defense Forces (EDF), the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF), the Amhara Regional Police Special Forces (ASF), and Fano, an informal Amhara militia group. Given the context, scale, and gravity of the sexual violence committed against women and girls in Tigray, the violations amount to war crimes and may amount to crimes against humanity.

Tigray forces seek new military alliance | 11 August 2021 | Reuters

Ethiopia armed group says it has alliance with Tigray forces | 11 August 2021 | The Associated Press

Is the new Tigray-Oromo pact more political than military? | 14 August 2021 | The East African

Forces from Ethiopia’s rebellious Tigray region said on Wednesday they were in talks to forge a military alliance with insurgents from Ethiopia’s most populous region, Oromiya, heaping pressure on the central government in Addis Ababa.

Ethiopia’s prime minister calls for mass enlistment amid battlefield losses to Tigray rebels | 10 August 2021 | The Washington Post

Amid a string of battlefield losses that have allowed rebels from Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region to move into neighboring areas and down a key highway leading to the capital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s prime minister called Tuesday for a national war effort, including mass enlistment.

Tigray rebels seize UNESCO site of Lalibela in Ethiopia’s Amhara region | 5 August 2021 | France24

Rebels from Ethiopia’s war-hit Tigray region on Thursday seized Lalibela, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the neighbouring Amhara region famed for its 12th-century rock-hewn churches, residents told AFP.

‘Heartbreaking’ devastation in Tigray, says UN humanitarian chief | 4 August 2021 | UN News

The new UN Emergency Relief Coordinator ended a six-day mission to Ethiopia with a fresh push to get badly needed food and other supplies into the embattled Tigray region.

US warns Ethiopia of ‘dehumanizing rhetoric’ on Tigray | 3 August 2021 | The Washington Post

The head of the U.S. Agency for International Development expressed concern Wednesday about the “dehumanizing rhetoric” used by Ethiopia’s leaders amid the nine-month conflict in the Tigray region, whose forces last month were described as “weeds” and “cancer” by the country’s Nobel Peace Prize-winning prime minister, Abiy Ahmed.

Ethiopia: Growing concerns for unity as Tigray conflict spreads | 3 August 2021 | BBC

There are increasing concerns about Ethiopian unity as the conflict in the northern Tigray region escalates. The nine-month-long war between Tigrayan rebel forces and the Ethiopian army and its allies has been mostly contained in Tigray itself.

Bodies found in river between Ethiopia’s Tigray and Sudan | 2 August 2021 | The Associated Press

A Sudanese official says local authorities in Kassala province have found around 50 bodies, apparently people fleeing the war in neighboring Ethiopia’s Tigray region, floating in the river between the countries over the past week, some with gunshot wounds or their hands bound.

Ethiopia’s Tigray crisis: Rebels vow to fight on until blockade ends | 2 August 2021 | BBC

The commander of the rebel group in Ethiopia’s northern region of Tigray has told the BBC they will continue fighting until their terms for a ceasefire are met. Gen Tsadkan Gebretensae said the group aims to force the federal government to lift a blockade in the region and agree to a political solution to the crisis.

Africa can prevent Ethiopia from going down Rwanda’s path: here’s how | 2 August 2021 | The Conversation

When Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed was awarded the Nobel peace prize in 2019, I congratulated him in a public US and Africa dialogue forum. I thought he deserved the prize, given what he had done. In particular he showed a calm and responsible interest in listening to all community grievances to avoid outbursts of war.

Ethiopian Airlines denies shipping arms, soldiers to Tigray | 1 August 2021 | France24

Ethiopian Airlines, the largest carrier in Africa, on Sunday denied it was transporting weapons and soldiers to the war-torn Tigray region. Calls to boycott the state-owned airline appeared on social media over allegations it was involved in the nine-month-old conflict.

IPIS Briefing June/July 2021 – Ethiopia-Tigray Conflict

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Source: IPIS Briefing June/July 2021

The IPIS briefing offers a selection of articles, news and updates on natural resources, armed conflict, Business & Human Rights and arms trade. Every month, an editorial and related publications shed a light on a specific topic in IPIS’ areas of research. 

Ethiopia accuses international community of ‘double standards’ in Tigray conflict | 29 July 2021 | The East African

The Ethiopian government on Wednesday accused the international community of responding with “dead silence” to belligerence by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).

Ethiopia’s Amhara state rallies youth to fight Tigrayan forces as war widens | 25 July 2021 | Reuters

Ethiopia’s Amhara region on Sunday called on “all young people” to take up arms against forces from the neighbouring region of Tigray, who claimed to have taken over a town in Amhara for the first time since the conflict began.

Tigray Defence Forces Commander says Addis Ababa within reach | 25 July 2021 | Daily News Egypt

Commander of Tigray Defence Forces (TDF) General Tsadkan Gebretensae has said that they could march to Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa with no real opposition.

Widening Ethiopia Conflict Displaces Tens of Thousands of People | 21 July 2021 | Bloomberg

A widening conflict in northern Ethiopia displaced tens of thousands of people, after fighting spread from the Tigray region to neighboring Afar state, a government official said.

Ethiopia’s Tigray forces enter neighbouring Afar region, Afar says | 19 July 2021 | Reuters

Forces from Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region have mounted attacks in neighbouring Afar region, a spokesman for Afar said on Monday, marking an expansion of an eight-month-old conflict into a previously untouched area.

Ethiopia’s PM Abiy vows to crush TPLF ‘once and for all’ | 19 July 2021 | The East African

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Sunday vowed to wipe out the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), a group that was once the country’s ruling party, but which Addis Ababa now considers a terrorist movement.

Ethiopia’s Tigray forces say they freed 1,000 captured soldiers | 18 July 2021 | Reuters

Forces in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region have released around 1,000 government soldiers captured during recent fighting, the head of its ruling party said, as both sides prepared for a showdown over contested land in the west of the region.

Could the Tigray Defense Force Invade Eritrea? | 17 July 2021 | The National Interest

Should the Tigray Defense Forces enter Eritrea or, more likely, organize and support Eritrean opposition forces, the Eritrean government may find that this conscript army will dissolve and defect.

A legal solution to Ethiopia’s military problems in and around Tigray | 16 July 2021 | Ethiopia Insight

The armed conflict that broke out on 3 November 2020 between, primarily, the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) and the armed forces of the Tigray Regional Government has resulted in an immeasurable loss, injury, and damage to all parties.

Three more regions reinforce Ethiopia army, Amhara against Tigray forces | 16 July 2021 | Reuters

Three more Ethiopian regions are sending soldiers to reinforce the national army in its fight against forces from the northern region of Tigray, regional officials said, widening a conflict that has so far largely affected the north.

Ethiopia’s Tigray crisis: Fleeing for fear of new ethnic conflict | 16 July 2021 | BBC

Almost every night, a handful of young men slip across the well-guarded border, swimming across a fast-flowing brown river and trudging into Sudan to escape what they say is a sudden upsurge in ethnic violence in the far western corner of Ethiopia’s Tigray region.

Éthiopie: la reprise des combats au Tigré fait planer le spectre d’une guerre d’indépendance | 15 July 2021 | Le Figaro

Depuis plusieurs semaines la contre-offensive menée par les Forces de défense du Tigré (FDT) leur a permis de reprendre le contrôle d’une large partie de la région. Le mardi 13 juillet, Getachew Reda, leur porte-parole, a annoncé à l’AFP la prise de la ville d’Alamata. «Hier, nous avons lancé une offensive dans la région de Raya (sud du Tigré) et nous sommes parvenus à mettre en déroute les divisions des forces de défense fédérales et des forces amhara », souligne-t-il. Le lendemain, le premier ministre éthiopien, Abiy Ahmed, a, lui, promis de «repousser les attaques» des «ennemis internes et externes », dans un communiqué publié sur Twitter.

‘We won’t back down’: Ethnic militias rush to Tigray border | 15 July 2021 | France24

When war broke out last year in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region, Solomon Alabachew acted fast, grabbing his Kalashnikov and rushing to the front with his fellow ethnic Amhara militia fighters.

Ethiopia Accuses Aid Groups of ‘Arming’ Tigray Fighters | 15 July 2021 | Associated Press | US News

Ethiopia’s government has accused humanitarian aid groups working in its war-hit Tigray region of “arming” Tigray fighters and threatened to halt some groups’ operations there.

Ethiopian regulator suspends Addis Standard news website | 15 July 2021 | Reuters

Ethiopia’s media regulator said it had suspended the news website The Addis Standard on Thursday and accused it of advancing the agenda of a terrorist group.

Hundreds of Tigrayans detained in Ethiopian capital in recent weeks, witnesses say | 15 July 2021 | Reuters

Ethiopian police have detained hundreds of ethnic Tigrayans in Addis Ababa since federal government forces lost control of the Tigray region’s capital on June 28, according to some of those who say they were released.

Ethiopia conflict heats up as Amhara region vows to attack Tigray forces | 15 July 2021 | Reuters

Ethiopia’s war in the northern region of Tigray looked set to intensify on Wednesday as the prime minister signalled the end of a government ceasefire and the neighbouring Amhara region said it would go on the offensive against Tigrayan forces.

Ethiopia’s Tigray Conflict Deepens as Abiy Cease-Fire Fails | 14 July 2021 | Bloomberg

The northern Ethiopia conflict may be headed for a dangerous turn after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s unilateral cease-fire failed and he backed calls to resist Tigray forces advancing to retake territory.

Tigray rebels say they capture main town, push south and west | 13 July 2021 | Reuters

Rebels in Ethiopia’s Tigray region said on Tuesday they had recaptured a main town from rival forces and were pushing to take back more territory.

U.S. condemns retaliatory attacks against civilians in Ethiopia’s Tigray region | 13 July 2021 | Reuters

The United States is gravely concerned about reports of hostilities in Ethiopia’s Tigray and condemns any retaliatory attacks against civilians in the region, a State Department spokesman said on Monday.

Tigray forces push south as Amhara militias mobilise | 13 July 2021 | Reuters

Forces in Ethiopia’s Tigray pushed deeper into land claimed by neighbouring Amhara region on Tuesday, prompting its leaders – allies of the central government – to urge local militia to arm themselves and mobilise.

En Éthiopie, le viol collectif vicieux des femmes est devenu une arme contre le Tigré dans la guerre civile | 12 July 2021 | Global Voices

Il est difficile de choisir l’histoire la plus troublante de la guerre civile en cours dans la région du Tigré en Éthiopie. Il y a cette histoire d’une femme de 40 ans qui a été violée à plusieurs reprises par un groupe de 15 soldats érythréens et abandonnée au bord d’une route. Il y a aussi l’histoire d’une femme de 34 ans qui a été violée par quatre militaires amhara et une tige de métal chaud a été insérée dans ses organes génitaux pour brûler son utérus. Et puis il y a l’histoire d’une femme de 65 ans qui a été forcée de regarder ses deux filles être violées par un groupe de soldats et battues devant elle.

Amhara troops attacking Tigray people in Humera and Alamata | 10 July 2021 | GaroweOnline

The conflict in Tigray could be far from over despite the declaration of a ceasefire, Garowe Online has learnt, due to ongoing antagonism within the region, mainly targeting the Tigrayan community which lives in northern Ethiopia.

Rebel victories in Tigray are a watershed moment for Ethiopia | 9 July 2021 | TimesNow

The Tigray People’s Liberation Front’s control over Tigray poses an existential threat to Isaias Afwerki, Eritrea’s authoritarian President.

Ethiopian conflict and international law | 7 July 2021 | Black Star News

I spoke to legal scholar Francis A. Boyle, who said that a “Responsibility-to-Protect” intervention in Ethiopia would be illegal and catastrophic.

Blinken calls for indefinite ceasefire in call with Ethiopia’s Abiy | 7 July 2021 | DefenceWeb

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Tuesday, stressing the need for all parties to commit to an immediate and indefinite ceasefire in the northern Tigray region, the State Department said.

Ethiopia’s Looming Catastrophe | 7 July 2021 | Bloomberg

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed erred disastrously last November in launching a war against his own people in the northern Tigray region. He has a chance to reverse his mistake, and he needs to seize it.

Hundreds of Women and Girls Brutalized by Soldiers in Tigray War (video) | 7 July 2021 | VoA

Hundreds of women and girls in Ethiopia’s Tigray region have reported brutal rapes at the hands of soldiers in a war that is still ongoing, despite last week’s government troop withdrawal. As VOA’s Heather Murdock reports from Mekelle, the rape victims who come forward say they are only a small percentage of the women and girls who have been brutalized.

Tigray rebel chief calls for political solution to conflict in Ethiopia | 6 July 2021 | Reuters

The commander of rebel forces in Tigray on Tuesday called for a negotiated ceasefire with the Ethiopian government and a political solution to the conflict in the northern region, saying the government could not win the war.

Tigray forces mobilise against militias from neighbouring province | 6 July 2021 | The Guardian

Insurgent forces in Tigray are mobilising for new conflict against militia from a neighbouring province in Ethiopia, with thousands of new volunteers joining their ranks after federal forces withdrew following more than eight months of war.

Incestuous Relationship Between Western Politics And Western Media: Case Of Ethiopian Conflict | 6 July 2021 | Eurasia Review

Let’s face it: Ethiopia is at a crossroads, unsure if it will continue to exist as a coherent nation-state or if it will crumble into a collection of regions that variously fight each other or the rump leftovers of the central government. Two big words are knocking on Ethiopia’s door with increasing impatience: FAILED STATE.

Ethiopia’s Tigray demands troop withdrawals for ceasefire talks | 4 July 2021 | Reuters

Ethiopia’s Tigray region wants a full withdrawal of troops from Eritrea and the neighbouring state of Amhara before it can engage in any talks with the federal government about a ceasefire, it said in a statement on Sunday.

400,000 in Tigray cross ‘threshold into famine’, with nearly 2 million on the brink, Security Council told | 2 July 2021 | UN News

Senior UN officials appealed on Friday for immediate and unrestricted humanitarian access to Tigray – and for an end to deadly attacks on aid workers – as the Security Council held its first open meeting on the conflict in the restive northern Ethiopian region.

Ethiopia denies trying to ‘suffocate’ Tigray region | 2 July 2021 | Washington Post

Ethiopia’s government on Friday rejected accusations that it’s trying to “suffocate” the people of Tigray by denying them urgently needed food and other aid, as transport and communications links remained severed to the region that faces the world’s worst famine crisis in a decade.

Analysis: Ethiopia govt withdrawal from Tigray capital opens new chapter in war | 2 July 2021 | Reuters

The capture of the Tigray regional capital by its ousted rulers this week was a dramatic setback for Ethiopia’s government, diplomats and analysts say, opening a new chapter in a brutal war but by no means bringing it to an end.

Unable to control Tigray, Ethiopia isolates region already beset by famine and war | 2 July 2021 | Washington Post

The Ethiopian government’s inability to sustain its military offensive in the mountainous northern Tigray region was laid bare this week, as rebel forces chased their adversaries out of key cities and were met, as they triumphantly marched in, with jubilation from locals who see them as liberators.

Fall of Tigray capital marks new phase of Ethiopia war | 2 July 2021 | France24

Rebel fighters in Ethiopia’s war-hit Tigray stunned the world this week by retaking the regional capital Mekele, sparking boastful statements by their leaders and rowdy street celebrations by their supporters.

Ethiopia denies blocking aid to Tigray where WFP trucks waited days to unload | 2 July 2021 | Reuters

Ethiopia on Friday denied blocking humanitarian aid to its northern Tigray region where hundreds of thousands face starvation, and said it was rebuilding infrastructure amid accusations it is using hunger as a weapon.

Trapped in Ethiopia’s Tigray, People ‘Falling Like Leaves’ | 30 June 2021 | VoA

The plea arrived from a remote area that had so far produced only rumors and residents fleeing for their lives. Help us, the letter said, stamped and signed by a local official. At least 125 people already have starved to death.

Ethiopia: Uncertainty in Tigray after rebels take control of restive north | 30 June 2021 | DW

Ethiopia PM says army quit Tigray as no longer ‘centre’ of conflict | 30 June 2021 | Reuters

What’s behind the renewed conflict in Ethiopia’s Tigray region? | 30 June 2021 | Washington Post

The rebel Tigray Defense Forces claimed Mekele and Shire were under their control. Experts warn of a precarious situation after Ethiopia’s federal government called a unilateral cease-fire.

Rape as a strategy of war: demanding protection and justice for the women and girls of Tigray | 30 June 2021 | SABC

The 2018 Nobel Laureate, Dr. Denis Mukwege, a gynaecologist celebrated for his work with survivors of sexual assault in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Panzi Hospital said, “Rape is a strategy of war – it is meant to destroy women and communities physically and mentally”. Sadly, this destruction has become a daily reality for women and girls in Tigray.

Washington says it will not ‘stand by in the face of horrors’ in Tigray | 29 June 2021 | Reuters

Ethiopia and Eritrea should anticipate further actions from the United States if the announced cessation of hostilities does not lead to improvements in the Tigray region, a senior U.S. State Department official said on Tuesday.

Tigray rebels vow to drive out ‘enemies’ despite ceasefire declaration | 29 June 2021 | The Guardian

Tigray fighters in Ethiopia reject cease-fire as ‘sick joke’ | 29 June 2021 | Associated Press

Dissident leaders of Ethiopia’s war-hit Tigray have dismissed a government ceasefire declaration and vowed to drive out “enemies” from the region, after rebel fighters advanced on the Tigrayan capital.

Ottawa must stop aid to Ethiopia in light of human rights violations | 29 June 2021 | National Post

Ottawa should stop sending millions of dollars in aid to the Ethiopian government and push for creating a no-fly zone and delivering air-dropped food aid to the people of the Tigray region, who have been under attack from the federal military for nearly eight months, advocates say.

Interim government of Tigray flees as rebels seize capital | 28 June 2021 | The Guardian

Tigrayan Forces take over capital Mekelle; Fed. Gov accepts interim admin’s call for unilateral ceasefire | 28 June 2021 | Addis Standard

The interim government of Ethiopia’s war-hit Tigray region has fled as rebel fighters advanced into the region’s capital and the national government announced a “unilateral ceasefire”.

Ethiopia’s sovereignty and the Responsibility to Protect in Tigray | 27 June 2021 | Ethiopia Insight

The civil war in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region brings into focus tensions between the traditional principle of state sovereignty and the emerging Responsibility to Protect (R2P) norm.

Ethiopia’s Tigray crisis: What happened the day a bomb hit a market | 27 June 2021 | BBC

Conflicting accounts have been circulating following an Ethiopian missile strike on a market town in the northern region of Tigray. The Ethiopian government said it was targeting militants, but multiple sources have described heavy civilian casualties including women and children. We’ve used witness accounts, aerial images and official statements to build a detailed picture of what happened.

Statement on the killing of three MSF aid workers in the Tigray Region | 26 June 2021 | UNCT | ReliefWeb

Tigray: UN condemns murder of 3 MSF humanitarians as ‘appalling violation’ of international law | 26 June 2021 | UN News

Three employees of the Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) agency have been killed by unknown attackers in the restive Tigray region of Ethiopia, drawing swift condemnation from UN Secretary-General António Guterres who said on Saturday he was “deeply shocked” by the murders.

4 Things to Know about Tigray’s Humanitarian Crisis as Ethiopia Counts Votes | 25 June 2021 | Global Citizen

While Ethiopia’s national elections took place on June 21 2021, the conflict in the country’s Tigray region only worsened. Just 34% of citizens in Africa’s second-most populous country were registered to vote, with polls located in six of the country’s 10 regions. Authorities were unable to hold elections in the other four regions, including conflict-ridden Tigray.

Ethiopia’s Tigray crisis: Heavy casualties reported after air strike | 24 June 2021 | BBC

Dozens of people have reportedly been killed or injured after Ethiopia’s air force bombed a market in the northern region of Tigray. Eyewitnesses told the BBC the Ethiopian air force struck the town of Togoga on Tuesday, 25km (15 miles) from the region’s capital, Mekelle.

Ethiopia: Joint statement by the High Representative Borrell and Commissioner Lenarčič on the airstrike in the Tigray region | 23 June 2021 | EU External Action Service

The reports on the bombing of a market place in the village of Edaga Selus near Togoga in the Dogua Tembien District of the Tigray Region on 22 June are extremely worrying. This is yet another attack adding up to the horrific series of International Humanitarian Law and human rights violations, atrocities, ethnic violence, combined with serious allegations of use of starvation and sexual violence as weapons of conflict.

U.N. expert says Eritrea has ‘effective control’ in parts of Tigray | 22 June 2021 | Reuters

Eritrea now has “effective control” of parts of Ethiopia’s Tigray region, a U.N. human rights expert said on Tuesday, calling for troops to withdraw and for a prompt investigation into abuses, including the abduction of refugees.

Ethiopia’s Tigray crisis: Abiy Ahmed denies reports of hunger | 22 June 2021 | BBC

Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has denied that there is hunger in the country’s war-torn Tigray region. Speaking at a polling station on the day of the country’s general election, Mr Abiy admitted there was a problem but said the government could fix it.

‘Don’t betray women of Tigray’: calls grow for international action against rape in war | 19 June 2021 | The Guardian

The former prime minister of New Zealand, Helen Clark, and Zimbabwean author and 2020 Booker prize nominee Tsitsi Dangarembga are among the signatories of two separate letters demanding international action after shocking reports of sexual violence in Tigray.

“Ethiopian leaders told me they’re going to wipe out, destroy Tigryans”, claims EU envoy | 18 June 2021 | Addis Standard

Finnish FM: EU envoy work continues despite Ethiopian criticism | 23 June 2021 | Euractiv

An alarming video with claims from Pekka Haavisto, Foreign Minister of Finland and EU’s envoy to Ethiopia has emerged in which the top EU diplomat alleged that Ethiopian leaders told him in February of their intents to “wipe out the Tigrayans.”

Eritrea files new complaint with UN over Tigray allegations | 17 June 2021 | Africa Times

The Eritrean government has filed another complaint against the United Nations Security Council and UN heads of humanitarian agencies over the situation in the Tigray region of Ethiopia.

Warnings of Genocide in Ethiopia’s Tigray | 16 June 2021 | Gariwo

Between November and December 2020, a civil war took place in Tigray, a region in Northern Ethiopia, Africa’s most populous country after Nigeria. The war involved the Ethiopian army, commanded by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and backed by Eritrean troops, and the Tigray’s People Liberation Front (TPLF), which challenged Ethiopia’s central government. The war, which stemmed from decades-long tensions, officially ended in December. Yet, the conflict kept escalating and ravaging the Tigray region. More than two million people are now displaced, around four million require aid, and Ethiopian and Eritrean troops have been accused of ethnic cleansing, massacres, and other atrocities in Tigray that amount to war crimes. Some even discuss the Tigray crisis in terms of genocide.

Sexual Violence and the War in Tigray | 16 June 2021 | Lawfare

It is now indisputable that the outbreak of war in Tigray, a region in northern Ethiopia, in November 2020 has resulted in widespread conflict-related sexual violence. In mid-April, the top public health official in the interim government in Tigray (a body established by the federal government) told Reuters that there have been more than 820 reported cases of sexual violence registered across five hospitals since the start of conflict. This health official further asserted that women are being subjected to “sexual slavery.” There are now assertions that the sexual violence in Tigray constitutes “genocidal rape.”

Tens of Thousands of Tigray Children Face Imminent Death, UNICEF Warns | 15 June 2021 | VoA

The U.N. Children’s Fund warns at least 33,000 severely malnourished children in northern Ethiopia’s Tigray region face imminent death if they do not receive immediate help to treat their condition.

Starvation has become a weapon of war in Ethiopia. U.S. action is urgent | 15 June 2021 | The Washington Post

For months, humanitarian agencies have been warning that famine could spread in the Ethiopian region of Tigray if government forces and allied troops from neighboring Eritrea did not end a brutal campaign to subjugate the area. Now that emergency has arrived. U.N. agencies reported last week that more than 350,000 of Tigray’s 6 million people are living in famine conditions, and 2 million more are at risk. Some 140,000 of those facing starvation are children, according to UNICEF, which says 33,000 are at imminent risk of death.

Ethiopie : les rebelles du TPLF accusés de faire entrer des armes de contrebande | 14 June 2021 | Journal du Tchad

Le gouvernement éthiopien a déclaré avoir des preuves crédibles que certains « éléments étrangers » ont tenté de faire passer des armes au Front de libération du peuple du Tigré (TPLF) sous couvert d’aide humanitaire. Un message vidéo pré enregistré publié par le ministère des Affaires étrangères au cours du week-end, le vice-premier ministre, Demeke Mekonnen, a déclaré que l’Éthiopie était déçue par une campagne secrète apparemment menée contre sa gestion de la situation dans la région troublée du Tigré.

EU and the US Concerned About the Humanitarian Emergency in Tigray | 11 June 2021 | IndepthNews

Together with the United Nations, the European Commission has urged “all parties to the conflict” in Ethiopia’s Tigray region to agree to “a ceasefire immediately to facilitate humanitarian assistance to reach all people in need in Tigray regardless of where they are and to stop violence against civilians”.

In Tigray, food is often a weapon of war as famine looms | 11 June 2021 | The Associated Press

First the Eritrean soldiers stole the pregnant woman’s food as she hid in the bush. Then they turned her away from a checkpoint when she was on the verge of labor.

About 350,000 people in Ethiopia’s Tigray in famine -U.N. Analysis | 11 June 2021 | Reuters

More than 350,000 people in Ethiopia’s Tigray are suffering famine conditions, with millions more at risk, according to an analysis by United Nations agencies and aid groups that blamed conflict for the worst catastrophic food crisis in a decade.

U.S. provides over $181 million to avert famine in Tigray, Ethiopia | 10 June 2021 | Reuters

The United States is providing more than $181 million to deliver food, water and aid to feed more than three million people it said were facing famine in the Tigray region of Ethiopia, where thousands have been killed since conflict erupted in November.

Atrocity Alert No. 256: Ethiopia, Burkina Faso and Justice for Past Atrocities | 10 June 2021 | GCR2P | ReliefWeb

The UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Mark Lowcock, warned on Friday, 4 June, that famine is “imminent” in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region, stating that aid workers were already seeing starvation-related deaths. He stressed that, “there are now hundreds of thousands of people in northern Ethiopia in famine conditions… This now has horrible echoes of the colossal tragedy in Ethiopia in 1984,” comparing the current situation in Tigray to a notorious famine that killed over a million people in Ethiopia four decades ago.

Children Shot, Bombed and Knifed in Tigray War | 8 June 2021 | VoA

Fifteen-year-old Beriha lost one eye in the war and was permanently blinded in the other. And like many of the children hospitalized in Mekelle, the capital of Ethiopia’s Tigray region, she traveled for weeks to get here. Children in the ward had been shot, knifed or hit by shrapnel from heavy artillery. Some lost limbs from stepping on landmines.

How ethnic killings exploded from an Ethiopian town | 7 June 2021 | Reuters

Soon after fighting broke out in Ethiopia’s western Tigray region last year, conflicting accounts surfaced of an ethnic massacre in a farming town called Mai Kadra. Now Reuters has uncovered how the violence began and the brutal cycle of vengeance and slaughter that followed.

Witnesses to slaughter: The conflict in Ethiopia | 7 June 2021 | DefenceWeb

In November last year, fighting erupted in Ethiopia’s Tigray region between the rebellious Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and the army. Within days, reports emerged of communal killings in a farming town called Mai Kadra, in western Tigray.

Lost Limbs, Rising Anger as Town Is Caught up in Tigray War | 4 June 2021 | The Associated Press | Pulitzer Center

Shops remained shuttered, some government workers hadn’t been paid and the town’s main hospital was utterly laid to waste. But the Tigrayan fighters still claimed victory, swaggering through the streets of Hawzen with their guns. It wouldn’t last long.

Ethiopia rejects calls for ceasefire in Tigray, claiming victory is near | 3 June 2021 | The Guardian

UN says pause in fight against rebels would enable aid to reach province where 90% of people risk starvation. The Ethiopian government has defiantly brushed aside international calls for a ceasefire in the northern province of Tigray, saying its forces are close to “finalising operations” and will soon eliminate all armed opposition.

Ethiopian government defends actions in Tigray Region, accuses critics of ‘orchestrated attack’ | 3 June 2021 | CNN

The Government of Ethiopia has defended its actions in the northern province of Tigray, saying that it “condemns all acts that put the life and dignity of civilians in danger.” In a press statement issued on Thursday, the Prime Minister’s office said it “categorically rejects accusations of decimation of a people as a policy. Such is not the heartbeat of this administration.”

The Tigray Conflict: Ethiopia’s Humanitarian Disaster — Harry Sanders | 3 June 2021 | UK Human Rights Blog

Since November 2020, the Tigray region in the north of Ethiopia has been the epicentre of an awful (and hugely underreported) humanitarian disaster. War and violence have sent the region’s inhabitants fleeing over the Ethiopian border in search of asylum, while those who have not escaped are left to suffer increasingly disturbing conditions. Although the conflict was declared ‘over’ very quickly by the Ethiopian central government, abhorrent human rights abuses have continued while humanitarian access has been turned away. To understand how a nation led by a Nobel Laureate has fallen from grace on the world stage so dramatically, it is important to consider the circumstances which led to the outbreak of violence, and furthermore what it may mean for the future of Ethiopia and her people.

Ethiopia: Is the TPLF or Addis Ababa winning the PR war in the US? | 2 June 2021 | The Africa Report

Ethiopia’s government has been facing mounting pressure amidst internal conflict in Tigray and regional tensions around its Grand Renaissance Dam (GERD). In an effort to smooth over relations with the US – a once powerful ally – Addis Ababa has hired law firm Holland & Knight to assist with lobbying actions in Washington. What strategy is Abiy Ahmed’s government taking?

Ethiopia’s human rights chief as war rages in Tigray: ‘we get accused by all ethnic groups’ | 2 June 2021 | The Guardian

Former political prisoner Daniel Bekele has made the commission more autonomous but critics claim he is biased on current conflict. There was a time when a report by Ethiopia’s human rights commission was a staid affair, its findings offering window-dressing for hand-wringing donors and legal cover to the government.

Législatives en Éthiopie : un scrutin crucial sur fond de conflits ethniques | 1 June 2021 | France24

Après plusieurs reports, les élections législatives ont été fixées au 21 juin en Éthiopie. Dans un contexte de tensions exacerbées par la guerre au Tigré (nord) et des violences politico-ethniques, le Premier ministre Abiy Ahmed entend malgré tout obtenir la légitimité démocratique qui lui fait défaut.

Conflict Outside Tigray

Ethiopia: The Oromo Liberation Army is not a terrorist organisation | 27 July 2021 | The Africa Report

This piece is a response to the article “Ethiopia: Victory for the Oromo will come from winning hearts and minds, not terrorising people” that was written by Nagesso Dube.

How developing border region in Sudan could ignite Africa’s next conflict | 6 July 2021 | BusinessLive

The development of the patch of land could be a boon for Sudan’s struggling economy, but could also fuel a growing feud between it and Ethiopia.

Ethiopia: Boy Publicly Executed in Oromia | 10 June 2021 | HRW

Ethiopian government forces summarily executed a 17-year-old boy in Ethiopia’s Oromia region in broad daylight, Human Rights Watch said today. The public execution of Amanuel Wondimu Kebede underscores the lack of accountability for security force abuses in the country.

R2P Monitor, Issue 57 | 1 June 2021 | Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect

R2P Monitor is a quarterly bulletin applying the atrocity prevention lens to populations at risk of mass atrocities around the world. Issue 57 looks at developments in Afghanistan, Cameroon, Central Sahel (Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger), China, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Myanmar (Burma), Syria, Venezuela, Yemen, Mozambique, Central African Republic, Nigeria, South Sudan and Sudan.

IPIS Briefing May 2021 – Ethiopia-Tigray Conflict

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Source: IPIS Briefing May 2021: “Ethiopia Tigray crisis – Warnings of genocide and famine”

The IPIS briefing offers a selection of articles, news and updates on natural resources, armed conflict, Business & Human Rights and arms trade. Every month, an editorial and related publications shed a light on a specific topic in IPIS’ areas of research.

Read more

Ethiopia: Contemplating Elections and the Prospects for Peaceful Reform

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Source: USIP  April 29, 2021 |  Amid ongoing violence across the country, the vote may offer opportunities to support political dialogue and decrease polarization.

Ethiopia is approaching parliamentary elections on June 5. This will be the first vote since the process of reform launched in 2018 by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, and the stakes are extremely high. Elections to the next national parliament, the House of People’s Representatives, may determine future decisions about the structure of the country and consolidate the ruling party’s power. While the short-term outlook for the vote is unlikely to change, the election may offer opportunities to support political dialogue which could sustain important reforms and decrease polarization. Still, amid ongoing violence across Ethiopia, including in Tigray, voting in some areas will either not take place or will only be possible to hold under troubling security conditions, which may limit participation.

Researchers Lidet Tadesse Shiferaw and Terrence Lyons and USIP’s Aly Verjee discuss what is at stake in these elections, how ongoing violence could impact the electoral process and how the United States can help advance political reform in Ethiopia.

What is at stake in the June 2021 elections in Ethiopia?

Lidet: The election may shape both short-term political reforms and Ethiopia’s long-term trajectory. Ultimately, the election may shift the balance of power between ethno-nationalists and nationalists. Ethno-nationalists emphasize the primacy of ethnic identity as a political organizing principle. They advocate for the implementation of the self-determination of nations, nationalities and peoples in Ethiopia through self-governing, ethnically constituted regions. This is the system established by Ethiopia’s current constitution. Nationalists instead contend that citizenship, rather than ethnic or group identity, be the primary political organizing principle. They propose that ethno-linguistic demographic distribution alone is insufficient to determine how the federation is structured. Today’s political parties span the spectrum of these two political visions. The parties that secure significant shares in the next parliament and which go on to form the government will thus seek to advance their preferred vision of how Ethiopia’s state is organized.

Lyons: The elections are central to Abiy’s claims of legitimacy. The current parliament is composed of members elected in 2015 when the previous ruling party and its affiliates won 100 percent of the seats. Abiy came to office with promises of democratization and prosperity that earned him extraordinary goodwill but today Ethiopia faces its greatest crisis in decades: a brutal civil war and massive humanitarian emergency that involves neighboring Eritrea, allegations of ethnic cleansing and ghastly reports of rape in the northern Tigray region. At the same time, political violence has erupted across Ethiopia, notably in the highly populous Oromo and Amhara regions. The election will not be held in Tigray and will be held under troubling security conditions and federal military supervision in several other areas. Prospects for political reform that seemed so promising in 2018 are in question.

Verjee: In addition to the parliamentary election, residents of five zones (the zone is the administrative structure below a regional state) and one district in southern Ethiopia are due to vote in a referendum to create a new regional state. The South West Regional State is almost certain to be approved and augur another change to internal boundaries which continues the slow unravelling of Ethiopia’s most ethnically diverse region, following the similar Sidama referendum in 2019.

How do these elections compare to prior elections?

Lyons: From 1995 to 2015, polls were held every five years but, with the exception of very contentious elections in 2005 that ended in a crackdown and the arrest of leading opposition leaders, have not offered voters a meaningful choice. While elections were generally peaceful and voter turnout high, they were largely non-competitive. Government harassment led major opposition parties to boycott most votes. Instead of offering citizens a meaningful opportunity to choose their leaders, elections in Ethiopia have served to consolidate the ruling party’s power. The 2021 process differs from the past in several ways, notably with regard to the independent National Election Board (NEBE) and the involvement of several new opposition parties, but it seems likely that the upcoming vote will resemble the past with regards to the limits on participation.

Lidet: Compared to previous elections, today’s political field is formally wider now that exiled opposition parties have returned following the reforms of 2018. However, several opposition figures complain of political harassment, some prominent and controversial opposition leaders are in prison, and at least two political parties have decided to pull out of the race. Whether a decision to boycott is appropriate is debated: Critics point out that one of these parties participated in previous elections despite harassment and other process deficiencies. But their absence, as well as that of some other key political figures, diminishes the competitiveness of the election.

Another important change is social media. In previous elections, the use of social media was negligible. Traditional media, especially print, played a tremendous role in the flow of information and voter education in the 2005 electoral process. Independent media was very restricted in Ethiopia following the 2005 election. Today, social media is increasingly accessible and popular in Ethiopia and has become a preferred platform for information dissemination and consequently both political mobilization and exclusion. In a context of inadequate digital literacy and socio-political polarization, social media platforms are fraught with disinformation and misinformation, used to disseminate hate speech, and even incite violence. This challenge is not unique to Ethiopia, but it is the first time Ethiopians must reckon with the impacts of social media in an electoral process.

Does violence in several parts of Ethiopia affect the electoral process?

Verjee: NEBE has recently reported relatively low levels of voter registration, and as registration was about to conclude last week, decided to extend the registration period. Insecurity has likely contributed to the low registration uptake, and so many may be excluded from the election from the start. Organizing an election in areas with security challenges is obviously difficult for election administrators. Similarly, campaigning in such areas will be difficult, especially for smaller and less well-resourced parties. Potential voters will also understandably find it hard to focus on an election if they are worried that violence will recur in their communities. When political violence is widespread outside of the electoral process, the security of the vote may not be a foremost consideration for many ordinary people.

Lidet: Maintaining a secure electoral process throughout the country will test the capacity of the security forces. How security agencies discharge their responsibilities now, on election day, and in the post-election period, will test whether recent reforms have improved the institutional independence of the security and justice sector from the governing party, particularly if electoral disputes emerge.

For voters, risks to personal security are linked to the number of actors with the capacity for violence. In some parts of the country, the state does not have a monopoly over the means of violence. To safeguard both voters and the electoral process as a whole, the engagement of Ethiopian civil society, including its religious and traditional institutions is needed, even as Ethiopian civil society still recovers from years of suppression.

With only weeks left until the vote, sticking points persist. NEBE has not managed to establish polling stations in internally displaced person (IDP) camps hosting more than 2 million people across the country, before IDPs in Tigray are even considered. NEBE has also been forced to suspend voter registration in several areas of conflict, and not conduct any registration activities in the Tigray region. These issues risk undermining the voting rights of millions, if not effectively addressed, and could also affect the pluralism of the election in some constituencies.

Given these challenges, what can the United States do to advance political reform in Ethiopia?

Lyons: It is not surprising that the June elections are the focus of considerable external attention but by itself the vote will not determine the potential for future reforms or provide meaningful legitimacy to the incumbent. Washington should recognize that political actors and dynamics within Ethiopia will determine the outcome of this moment of crisis. There are opportunities, however, for the United States and others interested in advancing peace and reform to support longer term processes and political dialogue to develop a new road map to sustain the political opening, decrease polarization and end political violence.

Lidet: This election takes place at a time when Ethiopia confronts surmountable national and regional security and political challenges. The election is but one element of Ethiopia’s political evolution and should not be treated as an end in itself. The United States should therefore take a long-term perspective and support broad-based processes of reconciliation and inclusive and accountable local governance, which could contribute both to the wellbeing of citizens and the future stability of Ethiopia.

Verjee: There is not much time to change the likely course of the election. However, the election is a moment to push for necessary reforms, such as addressing the detention of political party leaders, limitations on the freedom of the press and the ability to freely organize and assemble. With forceful action to change some state boundaries already underway, signalling that all should adhere to Ethiopia’s existing constitutional arrangements on the management of state boundaries — as is happening in southern Ethiopia — is also important.

Lidet Tadesse is ‎a policy officer at the European Centre for Development Policy Management. Terrence Lyons is associate professor at the Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution, George Mason University, and author of the 2019 book, The Puzzle of Ethiopian Politics.

IPIS Briefing April 2021 – Ethiopia-Tigray Conflict

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Source: IPIS Briefing April 2021: “In Tigray, Sexual Violence Has Become A Weapon Of War”

The IPIS briefing offers a selection of articles, news and updates on natural resources, armed conflict, Business & Human Rights and arms trade. Every month, an editorial and related publications shed a light on a specific topic in IPIS’ areas of research. Read more

IPIS Briefing March 2021 – Ethiopia-Tigray Conflict

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Source: IPIS Briefing March 2021

Ethiopian police arrest 359 for suspected murder and illicit arms trade | 29 March 2021 | Xinhua

The Ethiopian Federal Police Commission disclosed the arrest of 359 people on suspicion of murder, illicit arms trade, money laundering and auto theft, the state-affiliated Fana Broadcasting Corporate reported Sunday.

Scale of Tigray horror adds to pressure on Ethiopian leader | 28 March 2021 | The Guardian

Pressure is mounting on Ethiopia’s prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, as the scale of horrors from his war against the northern Tigray region gradually emerge, revealing massacres, mass sexual violence and fears of ethnic cleansing.

Ethiopia’s Tigray conflict: MSF ‘witnessed soldiers killing civilians’ | 25 March 2021 | BBC

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) staff say they witnessed the extrajudicial killing of four civilians by Ethiopian soldiers in Tigray earlier this week.

Men forced to rape family members in Ethiopia’s Tigray, says U.N. | 25 March 2021 | Reuters

More than 500 rape cases have been reported to five clinics in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, the United Nations said on Thursday, warning that due to stigma and a lack of health services the actual numbers were likely to be much higher.

Why the Tigray investigation should be conducted by the UN, alone | 25 March 2021 | African Arguments

Probe announced into alleged Tigray rights violations: UN rights office | 25 March 2021 | UN News

Any probe into war crimes that involves the AU or the government’s own human rights commission stands little chance of being effective.

Atrocity Alert No. 245: Niger, Myanmar (Burma) and Ethiopia | 25 March 2021 | Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect | ReliefWeb

Physicians treating survivors of sexual violence in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region claim that rape is being used as a weapon of war against the ethnic Tigrayan population. A CNN report cited testimony from nine doctors recounting that women are being gang-raped, drugged and held hostage. Doctors said that the perpetrators – the Ethiopian federal forces and allied Eritrean soldiers – were operating with impunity.

Ethiopie : Abiy Ahmed admet (finalement) la présence de forces érythréennes dans le Tigré | 24 March 2021 | Agence Ecofin

Depuis le début de la crise au Tigré en novembre 2020, plusieurs rapports d’ONG ont accusé les armées érythréennes et éthiopiennes d’exactions dans la région. Malgré les témoignages recueillis auprès des réfugiés, Abiy Ahmed et son homologue érythréen ont toujours réfuté ces allégations.

Eritreans Behind Atrocity in Northern Ethiopia, Report Finds | 24 March 2021 | Bloomberg

More than a hundred people were killed last November by Eritrean forces in the northern Ethiopian town of Axum, according to the Ethiopian independent human rights body.

U.N. calls for stop to ‘horrific’ sexual violence in Ethiopia’s Tigray | 23 March 2021 | Reuters

A dozen top United Nations officials on Monday called for a stop to indiscriminate and targeted attacks against civilians in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region, particularly calling out reports of rape and “other horrific forms of sexual violence.”

Ethiopia’s leader says atrocities reported in Tigray war | 23 March 2021 | The Associated Press

Ethiopia’s leader on Tuesday said atrocities have been reported in Tigray, his first public acknowledgment of possible war crimes in the country’s northern region where fighting persists as government troops hunt down its fugitive leaders.

Statement on Gender-Based Violence in Tigray region of Ethiopia | 22 March 2021 | WHO

Amid a worsening humanitarian situation in the Tigray region of Ethiopia, reports of indiscriminate and targeted attacks against civilians, including rape and other horrific forms of sexual violence, continue to surface. This must stop.

EU slaps sanctions on Eritrea over human rights abuses | 22 March 2021 | Reuters

The European Union on Monday imposed sanctions on Eritrea over human rights violations and blacklisted the country’s National Security Office, which is tasked with intelligence gathering, arrests and interrogations.

Who is lobbying in the Ethiopia conflict as Coons heads to Addis Ababa | 19 March 2021 | Politico

The White House said Thursday it is dispatching Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), a top ally of President Joe Biden, to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to meet with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed at the president’s request to convey the administration’s “grave concerns about the humanitarian crisis and human rights abuses in the Tigray region,” according to a statement from national security adviser Jake Sullivan.

Tigray’s women affairs, communications bureaus confirm sexual violence in the region is rampant | 18 March 2021 | Addis Standard

A report published by DW Amharic suggested that the number of women who have been subjected to sexual violence during the conflict in Tigray regional state is unknown. The interim administration of the region stated that more than 500 women have been raped in the region’s capital, Mekelle, Adigrat and its environs between November and February alone. Up to three women come to Ayder hospital in Mekelle each day. It is said that the number doesn’t give the full picture as most victims do not make it to the hospital.

UN Rights Chief Agrees to Ethiopia Request for Joint Tigray Inquiry | 17 March 2021 | VoA

United Nations human rights chief Michelle Bachelet has agreed to an Ethiopian request for a joint investigation in the country’s northern Tigray region, where Bachelet says possible war crimes may have been committed.

Ethiopia: Hundreds executed, thousands homeless – the human cost of fighting in Tigray | 17 March 2021 | Sky News

The breadth and depth of human suffering in the Ethiopian region of Tigray is perfectly clear to humanitarian workers, human rights groups and the international diplomatic community.

Ethiopia’s Amhara Seizes Disputed Territory Amid Tigray War | 16 March 2021 | Bloomberg

An internal conflict in Ethiopia is being used to settle a long-standing territorial dispute between two of its northern states. Forces from the Amhara region took control of several areas in Tigray after backing federal troops that staged an incursion into its neighbor’s territory, said Gizachew Muluneh, a spokesman for the Amhara government. Fighting has continued in Tigray since Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed ordered the army to retaliate after forces loyal to Tigray’s ruling party attacked a military camp in November.

The Ethiopian Human Rights Roadmap: a feeble bulwark against atrocity crimes | 16 March 2021 | Ethiopia Insight

In his acceptance speech on 2 April 2018, Abiy Ahmed, Ethiopia’s new prime minister, expressed his intention to bring tectonic changes. And, indeed, Ethiopia has undergone unprecedented political and legal changes since then.

U.S. will not resume assistance to Ethiopia for most security programs | 13 March 2021 | Reuters

The State Department on Friday said Washington has decided not to lift the pause in assistance to Ethiopia for most programs in the security sector, days after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken described acts in Tigray as ethnic cleansing.

Tigray: Why are soldiers attacking religious heritage sites? | 12 March 2021 | African Arguments

There are reports of Ethiopian and Eritrea troops going out of their way to loot and destroy beloved churches, mosques and monasteries.

‘People are starving’: New exodus in Ethiopia’s Tigray area | 11 March 2021 | The Associated Press

Skinny, hungry, fleeing threats of violence, thousands of people who have been hiding in rural areas of Ethiopia’s Tigray region have begun arriving in a community that can barely support them — and more are said to be on the way.

Blinken: Acts of ‘ethnic cleansing’ committed in Western Tigray | 10 March 2021 | CNN

Secretary of State Tony Blinken for the first time Wednesday used the term “ethnic cleansing” to describe human rights abuses he said have been carried out in the Western Tigray region of Ethiopia, calling the situation “unacceptable.”

Ethiopia supplies weapons to Sudan rebels in Blue Nile to ‘occupy’ Kurmuk: SUNA | 8 March 2021 | AhramOnline

The Ethiopian government supplied weapons and ammunition to forces of Commander Joseph Tuka in Sudan’s Blue Nile state to help them “occupy” the Sudanese Kurmuk town, Sudan’s official news agency SUNA reported on Sunday.

Brutal Gender-Based Violence in Tigray — A Personal Account | 8 March 2021 | IDN

“A woman in her 40s was found dead on the road to her home. She was found with her hands tied, injured to her head and sexually assaulted. This was in Mekelle. I know her son.” This is what one of our reporters (A.G.), who herself is a young woman, has reported.

The U.N. Must End the Horrors of Ethiopia’s Tigray War | 8 March 2021 | Foreign Policy

Recent human rights investigations confirm the atrocities that journalists reported in November. A strong multilateral push can force an Eritrean withdrawal and put the region on the path to peace.

Young men take up arms in northern Ethiopia as atrocities fuel insurgency | 8 March 2021 | The Guardian

Ethiopian troops and their allies in the restive northern province of Tigray face a growing insurgency fuelled by a series of massacres and other violence targeting civilians.

U.N. seeks access to Ethiopia’s Tigray for war crimes probe | 4 March 2021 | Reuters

The United Nations’ human rights chief asked Ethiopia on Thursday to allow monitors into Tigray to investigate reports of killings and sexual violence that may amount to war crimes in the northern region since late 2020.

Leader of Tigray’s forces accuses Ethiopian and Eritrean governments of genocide | 2 March 2021 | CNN

The ousted leader of Ethiopia’s Tigray region has accused the federal government and its Eritrean allies of genocide and other crimes against humanity, calling on US President Joe Biden to dial up the pressure against “invader forces.”

Ethiopia’s Tigray region: War behind a ‘steel wall’ | 1 March 2021 | Deutsche Welle

Ethiopia has claimed that an Amnesty report painting a dark picture of the Tigray crisis supports misinformation. Now the government has invited journalists to visit Tigray — only to arrest them.

ACLED Regional Overview – Africa (13-19 March 2021) | 24 March 2021 | ACLED | ReliefWeb

Last week in Africa, Islamist militants launched deadly attacks in the border region between Mali and Niger; heavy fighting was reported in the Oromia and Tigray regions of Ethiopia; and a former president declared himself the leader of the Coalition of Patriots for Change rebel alliance in the Central African Republic.

In Ethiopia, Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF)/Tigray Defence Forces (TDF) clashed with Amhara regional special police and federal forces in the Ofla area of Southern Tigray. Significant TDF fatalities were reported across two days of fighting. Meanwhile, interethnic clashes involving both state and non-state armed groups from the Oromo and Amhara communities continued in the Amhara region. Members of the Shane splinter faction of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) attacked Amhara civilians in Karakore town and surrounding areas, killing at least 20 people.

FP – The U.N. Must End the Horrors of Ethiopia’s Tigray War

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Foreign Policy | Recent human rights investigations confirm the atrocities that journalists reported in November. A strong multilateral push can force an Eritrean withdrawal and put the region on the path to peace.

In November 2020, as war broke out in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region, the scale of the suffering was already apparent to anyone on the Ethiopian-Sudanese border. As the Ethiopian National Defense Force and allied Amhara militias and Eritrean soldiers swept through the region in a pincer movement, Tigrayans began to flee en masse, walking for days without water to get to safety in neighboring Sudan.

Hundreds of refugees made an almost biblical sight as they traversed the Hamdayet River crossing that separates the two countries. Small boats laden with men, women, and children pushed against the current, ferrying people to safety every few minutes.

On the Sudanese side, middle-class Tigrayan women stood shaded under brightly colored umbrellas, desperately peering into every boat to look for their loved ones they had lost on the other side.

One woman’s anxiety was palpable. She had stood at the river in the beating sun with her baby strapped to her back for several days waiting for her family—and fearing the worst. “Please, help us,” she said. “Take their names and write about them.”

The refugees’ testimonies all pointed to indiscriminate artillery fire on civilian areas, massive looting, machete-wielding ethnic militiamen, and summary executions. 

At one point, dozens of refugees fresh from the desert march and fearful of disclosing their identities started to shout out names of people they’d seen killed. One of us, reporting at the border, wrote down six names before the cacophony became overwhelming.

The refugees’ testimonies all pointed to indiscriminate artillery fire on civilian areas, massive looting, machete-wielding ethnic militiamen, and summary executions.

Around 50,000 people from bordering Tigrayan towns made it into Sudan before the Ethiopian army began stationing men in federal army uniforms at intervals along the border, sealing it off.

Some refugees said they had been threatened with death if they kept going. “They threatened to cut our heads off if we kept trying to leave Tigray,” one mother of five said in late November.

Online trolls and officials in Ethiopia’s capital of Addis Ababa then launched a systematic campaign to discredit refugees’ accounts, claiming that agents of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) had infiltrated the Sudanese camps to spread disinformation about atrocities.

Over the last four months, Tigray’s continued communications blackout has made it incredibly difficult to confirm accusations of potential war crimes committed by forces on both sides. Amnesty International says Eritrean troops systematically killed hundreds of unarmed civilians in the northern city of Axum last November.

Yet information has slowly slipped out from behind the curtain. In December 2020, a news team from Belgium’s VRT News gained rare access to Tigray. They found medical centers ransacked for medication and saw patients, including a small girl, covered in debilitating infections from bullet and shrapnel wounds.

About two dozen photos—far too graphic to publish—sent to journalists by a resident of the regional capital Mekele who escaped Tigray show the bodies of children and adolescents blown to pieces by the government’s artillery barrage of the city.

The United Nations special advisor on the prevention of genocide, Alice Wairimu Nderitu, said she has received reports of extrajudicial killings, sexual violence, looting of property, mass executions, and impeded humanitarian access. Nderitu warned that without taking urgent measures, the risk of atrocity crimes “remains high and likely to get worse.”

In February, the Telegraph was sent four-minute-long video of fighters in Ethiopian federal army uniforms walking past dozens of dead men and boys. The clip is the first video evidence to emerge from Tigray, implicating the Ethiopian army in war crimes.

In the clip, which has been geolocated to a village on the outskirts of the 14th-century Debre Abbay monastery in central Tigray and verified as undoctored by the newspaper, soldiers taunt the few Tigrinya-speaking survivors in Ethiopia’s lingua franca, Amharic.

When one adolescent lying on the ground pleads with the soldiers in Tigrinya, one man shouts at him: “Keep talking, I’ll fuck your mother. Keep talking, you son of a bitch.”

With no action, the dire situation in Tigray will only get worse. Humanitarian agencies have been consistently blocked from working in the region and have issued dire statements saying that tens of thousands of people are now facing starvation. Refugees are reportedly turning up to aid centers emaciated. People are reportedly eating leaves to survive, drinking polluted water, and dying of hunger in their sleep.

“There is an extreme urgent need—I don’t know what more words in English to use—to rapidly scale up the humanitarian response, because the population is dying every day as we speak,” Mari Carmen Vinoles, head of the emergency unit for Doctors Without Borders, told the Associated Press in January.

Aid workers have been consistently obstructed from providing emergency relief, however. Even the Ethiopian Red Cross, which has relatively good access compared to other organizations, said earlier this month that it could only reach 20 percent of the people in need in Tigray.

Hard questions need to be asked: Why is the blackout still largely in place, and why are so few aid workers being allowed in? Does Addis Ababa not want people looking into allegations of massive human rights abuses by federal troops? Or is it trying to hide the true extent to which Eritrea is involved in the conflict? Or maybe the federal government simply cannot allow access because it is not in control of vast stretches of the region? The Ethiopian government declined to reply to specific questions from Foreign Policy.

The conflict has a profound impact on Ethiopian public discourse, civil society, and social cohesion. For many non-Tigrayans, it has been a justifiable—even popular—military operation. There is very little love lost for the minority Tigrayans and their past domination of political and economic life in Ethiopia.

While the TPLF’s reign coincided with stunningly high rates of economic growth, the party and its coalition partners ruled with an iron fist. It arrested opposition leaders on trumped-up charges of corruption and erected an extensive network of citizen-spies, who, in a system known as “one to five,” were each responsible for keeping tabs on five other people.

Since the war erupted, triggered by a TPLF strike on the Ethiopian military’s northern command, there has been a deluge of misinformation from online accounts on both sides. In the melee, moderate voices have been squeezed from both sides. If an Ethiopian or international partner has pressed for peace and dialogue, the federal government has denounced them as Tigrayan sympathizers and enemies of the state.

When some have defended Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s response, they have been castigated as warmongers and accused of unwittingly doing Eritrea’s bidding. In this vortex of irreconcilable political differences, ethnic animosities, and regional rivalries, all sides have been accused of perpetrating atrocities.

Ethiopian journalists who dare to report details of the conflict that do not fit the government narrative have been subject to intimidation, hacking attempts, and death threats.

Reporters have been hit hard by the extraordinary outpouring of hatred. Ethiopian journalists who dare to report details of the conflict that do not fit the government narrative have been subject to intimidation, hacking attempts, and death threats.

In recent weeks, Ethiopia granted access to a select few outlets to cover Tigray. But almost immediately, translators and fixers for the Financial Times, Agence France-Presse, the New York Times, as well as the BBC’s Mekele reporter, were arrested. (They have since been released.)

Since the conflict began, several journalists have been arrested and one killed. In February, the freelance journalist Lucy Kassa’s house was raided by unknown attackers, most probably for reporting on allegations of mass rapes in Tigray.

Under the massive pressure, much of the Addis Ababa press corps has quietly moved whatever operations they can to Nairobi. “Tough times for us all … the fire and courage is not there anymore,” one journalist told us.

While Ethiopia’s federal forces are tied down in Tigray, other deep-seated problems are rearing their heads across the nation of 110 million people. Indeed, the civil war in Tigray is a symptom and only the most severe manifestation of Ethiopia’s troubles.

Abiy’s ascent and pledge to address long-standing grievances paradoxically reignited tensions between communities about identities, regional borders, and political representation. While the prior regime had locked communities into ethnically defined regions ruled by pliant leaders who only answered to federal authorities, Abiy promised to free Ethiopians from this rigid and repressive system. He permitted the Sidama zone to secede from the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples region, and stood by as communities formed militias and fought to redraw subnational borders.

His vision for a new Ethiopia, which he couldn’t deliver on fast enough, exposed him to withering critiques and turned adoring crowds into angry mobs. Abiy gradually revealed himself to be as intolerant of dissent as his predecessors, and he lashed out at his former allies-turned-rivals. Government forces surrounded the home of Oromo leader Jawar Mohammed and later arrested him.

A prominent protest singer, Hachalu Hundessa, was murdered over the summer, spurring public demonstrations. Before and since the outbreak of hostilities in Tigray, there have been pockets of violence across the country, including ethnic militias in Benishangul-Gumuz, friction on the Somali-Afar and Oromo-Somali borders, and rebel attacks in Oromia.

The country is rapidly unraveling under the stress of Abiy’s reforms and the strain of his rule. The current trajectory does not just promise more deaths and dislocations—it also imperils prospects for a free and fair election now scheduled for June 2021.

Abiy won plaudits from the Norwegian Nobel Committee and others for granting amnesty to political prisoners and legalizing outlawed parties, but he has been unwilling to extend the same olive branch to his opponents. Several parties, including the Oromo Federalist Congress from Abiy’s home region, have questioned whether they can participate in this year’s planned poll.

The conflict is as much a regional threat as it is a domestic one. The fighting in Tigray has engulfed the rest of the Horn of Africa. Abiy’s alliance with Eritrean leader Isaias Afwerki brought Eritrean troops into Tigray to bring the TPLF to heel. Isaias has harbored ill will toward the TPLF since the late 1990s when they fell out and fought a horrific border war, which was never fully resolved until Abiy’s rise to power. With Eritrea entering the fray, the TPLF fired rockets repeatedly into the neighboring country, in part to inflict some pain on Asmara and in part to rally Tigrayan support against a common enemy.

Ethiopia also has stumbled into a series of border skirmishes with another neighbor: Sudan. The two countries have long disputed their shared border in the Fashqa region, but they previously operated under a compromise of a “soft border.” Clashes first flared up late last year, and tensions have continued to escalate. On Feb. 14, the Sudanese government said Ethiopian forces crossed the border in an act of “aggression.”

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s recent call with Abiy is a start, but so far, the international response has been tepid. While most governments have expressed alarm at developments, very few have truly stepped up to stop the unfolding tragedy. Only the European Union has suspended direct budgetary support—some $107 million—until humanitarian agencies are granted access.

While the United States and EU have urged Eritrea to withdraw its troops, the international community has failed to speak in one voice and has ignored some overarching challenges, including the threat to Ethiopia’s nascent democracy. The U.N. Security Council is finally set to discuss Ethiopia on March 11 following four months of relegating Ethiopia to “Any Other Business” rather than as a formal agenda item.

If the international community wants to prevent further atrocities and salvage Abiy’s initial vision of an inclusive Ethiopia, it should take the following steps.

First, there should be no wavering on the issue of delivering life-saving assistance. So far, the Ethiopian government has granted authorization for 84 international staff with 53 applications still pending as of late February. It has been too little too late, and it only applies to government-controlled areas.

The U.N. should insist that its humanitarian agencies be given unfettered access, including in areas controlled by the TPLF. It is indefensible that Ethiopian soldiers and the Amhara militias are blocking access, and that Eritrean and Ethiopian forces have targeted refugee camps filled with Eritreans.

The international community has to do more than sit on the sidelines regarding human rights violations and mass atrocities.

Second, the international community has to do more than sit on the sidelines regarding human rights violations and mass atrocities. Blinken in late February reiterated U.S. support for investigations into human rights violations and abuses, as well as full accountability. The U.N. should start issuing unilateral and multilateral sanctions, as well as consider additional steps to isolate Ethiopia and Eritrea if the governments are determined to be culpable.

Third, there is an urgent need to evict the Eritrean forces and deescalate the border tensions between Ethiopia and Sudan. The United States, which holds the Security Council presidency, plans to address conflict-induced starvation and hunger in Ethiopia in mid-March. It should similarly raise these pressing regional conflicts related to the Ethiopian crisis.

The African Union leadership, including the recently elected chairman, Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi, and incoming Political Affairs, Peace, and Security Commissioner Bankole Adeoye should do the same at the AU. This is also an opportunity to tap the Gulf States, which have influence with all three countries and have no interest in a regional conflagration near their doorstep.

Fourth, the prime minister should reopen a dialogue with the country’s regional administration, political parties, and disparate ethnic communities to recommit to an inclusive and tolerant Ethiopia. While the crisis in Tigray requires urgent attention, the root of the problem is considerably deeper and affects all of Ethiopia. A two-sided conversation between Abiy’s government and the TPLF is insufficient.

Fifth, it is imperative to link the aforementioned dialogue to the election process. The dispute between the federal government and Tigray intensified following the region’s decision to hold unilateral local elections. If the prime minister follows through with his plan to hold an election in June, the vote is unlikely to be credible or free and fair when there is fighting in Tigray, millions of people are displaced, and top opposition leaders are under arrest.

The international community should be wary of pressing for and funding an election without renewed support from key actors and access to the ballot box across the country.

Ethiopia’s descent into violence is a stain on the world’s conscience. The international community must not applaud Ethiopia for its promise and recoil when urgent action is required to prevent its implosion. This is Washington’s chance to show that the last four years of isolationism and callous indifference to conflicts abroad was an aberration. It will not be easy to salve what ails Ethiopia, but it will be catastrophic if global powers and regional leaders do not try.

 

Ethiopia: Eritrean Forces Massacre Tigray Civilians – HRW

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HRW | UN Should Urgently Investigate Atrocities by All Parties

(Nairobi) – Eritrean armed forces massacred scores of civilians, including children as young as 13, in the historic town of Axum in Ethiopia’s Tigray region in November 2020, Human Rights Watch said today. The United Nations should urgently establish an independent inquiry into war crimes and possible crimes against humanity in the region to pave the way for accountability, and Ethiopian authorities should grant it full and immediate access.

On November 19, Ethiopian and Eritrean forces indiscriminately shelled Axum, killing and wounding civilians. For a week after taking control of the town, the forces shot civilians and pillaged and destroyed property, including healthcare facilities. After Tigray militia and Axum residents attacked Eritrean forces on November 28, Eritrean forces, in apparent retaliation, fatally shot and summarily executed several hundred residents, mostly men and boys, over a 24-hour period.

“Eritrean troops committed heinous killings in Axum with wanton disregard for civilian lives,” said Laetitia Bader, Horn of Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “Ethiopian and Eritrean officials can no longer hide behind a curtain of denial, but should allow space for justice and redress, not add to the layers of trauma that survivors already face.”

The attacks in Axum followed weeks of fighting between the Ethiopian military and allied forces from the Amhara region and Eritrean troops against forces affiliated with the region’s former ruling party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front.

Between December 2020 and February 2021, Human Rights Watch interviewed by phone 28 witnesses and victims of abuses and their relatives in Axum and examined videos of attacks and their aftermath.

Survivors consistently identified Eritrean troops by the vehicles bearing Eritrean license plates, their distinctive uniforms, the spoken dialect of Tigrinya, and their plastic “congo” shoes, worn by Eritrean forces since the liberation struggle.

On November 19, after Tigrayan forces and militia withdrew from Axum, Ethiopian and Eritrean forces began shelling the town around 4 p.m., continuing into the evening. The next day, witnesses saw Ethiopian and Eritrean forces indiscriminately shoot at civilians, including in the town’s Saint Mary’s hospital.

For about a week, the military forces pillaged. While several residents who spoke to Human Rights Watch saw Ethiopian forces participate, most said the soldiers just stood by and watched. “It was painful,” said one man. “I thought the Ethiopian military stood for Ethiopia and its people… but they did nothing as Eritrean forces looted and killed. They just kept silent.”

The abuses generated considerable anger in the town. On November 28, after 7 a.m., a group of Tigrayan militia and town residents attacked Eritrean forces, triggering fighting. That afternoon, Eritrean reinforcements entered Axum and went on a 24-hour killing spree.

Survivors described the horror of Eritrean soldiers moving through the town, going house to house, searching for young men and boys, and executing them. A student described watching helplessly as Eritrean soldiers led six neighbors, including a 17-year-old the witness knew as “Jambo” and another young man, outside. He said: “They made them take off their belts, then their shoes. They lined them up and walked behind them. The Eritrean soldiers fired their guns. The first three then fell. They fired other shots, and the other three fell.”

Eritrean troops shot other civilians on the street. “A group of soldiers killed a man and then forced a pregnant woman and two children that were with him to kneel on the asphalt street beside his body,” said one witness.

Those retrieving bodies for burial did not escape harm. Several residents said Eritrean forces shot at them while they tried to collect the dead on November 28 and 29.

The massacre left the town’s inhabitants reeling. One man visited a relative who lost her children in the house-to-house killings: “They killed her children and locked the compound door behind them, so no one could get in at first. She was left alone with the bodies of her two dead children for a day and a half. She was numb, unresponsive by the time we saw her.”

Human Rights Watch was unable to determine the number of civilian deaths resulting from the joint Ethiopian-Eritrean offensive on Axum and the ensuing massacre. However, based on interviews with elders, community members collecting identification cards of those killed, and those assisting the retrieval of the dead, Human Rights Watch estimates that over 200 civilians were most likely killed on November 28-29 alone. Human Rights Watch also received a list of 166 names of victims allegedly killed in Axum in November, 21 of which correspond to the names of those killed on November 28 and 29 given by witnesses interviewed.

International humanitarian law, or the laws of war, applicable to the armed conflict in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, prohibits deliberate attacks on civilians and attacks that are indiscriminate or cause disproportionate civilian harm. Indiscriminate attacks strike military objectives and civilians or civilian objects without distinction, including those not directed at a specific military target. The laws of war also prohibit all violence against captured combatants and civilians, including murder and torture. Pillage and looting are also prohibited. Individuals who commit serious laws-of-war violations with criminal intent, including as a matter of command responsibility, are liable for war crimes.

Crimes against humanity include murder and other unlawful acts committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack on a civilian population.

The late November attacks were documented by media organizations, as well as by Amnesty International. The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission has also begun investigations. Human Rights Watch provided its findings to Ethiopian and Eritrean government officials on February 18 but received no response. On February 26, the Ethiopian government announced it would thoroughly investigate events in Axum and expressed “readiness to collaborate with international human rights experts.”

While the lack of access to conflict areas has hindered reporting on the conflict, Human Rights Watch and others have reported on other massacres, the indiscriminate shelling of towns, widespread pillaging, including destruction of crops, and the apparent extrajudicial executions by Ethiopian and Eritrean forces, as well as forces from the neighboring Amhara region.

Given the presence of multiple armed forces and groups and the poor track record of the warring parties in investigating grave abuses, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) should conduct an urgent, independent inquiry focused on establishing the facts, collecting forensic and other criminal evidence, and investigating war crimes and possible crimes against humanity in Axum and elsewhere, Human Rights Watch said.

“Condemnations are not enough to bring justice to the victims of grave abuses committed by both Ethiopian and Eritrean forces in Tigray,” Bader said. “Attention and action by UN member states is needed now to ensure those responsible for these grave abuses are held accountable. So far, reports of these chilling abuses have been met by shameful silence.”

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9 Things To Know About The Unfolding Crisis In Ethiopia’s Tigray Region

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NPR | For months, a conflict in Ethiopia between the government in Addis Ababa and a defiant region has cost thousands of lives and displaced at least a million people.

Despite the increasing brutality of the conflict in Tigray, until now, it has been largely overlooked by the outside world. But attention and concern is growing with news of alleged atrocities and a worsening refugee crisis.

We’ve put together nine things you should know about the situation in the Horn of Africa.

Where is Tigray and what is going on there?

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 accounts for about 6% of Ethiopia’s population, have had an outsized influence in national affairs.

In early November, the regional government — controlled by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, a leftist political party — launched a full-scale siege of a key Ethiopian military base at Sero, using tanks, heavy guns and mortars.

Calling the TPLF assault a “treason that will never be forgotten,” Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed ordered a federal offensive against the region, setting off the conflict.

How bad is the humanitarian crisis?

Bad. But the scope of the problem is still unclear. The United Nations says the humanitarian community has been largely unable to get outside the major cities, such as the regional capital of Mekele, to see what’s happening in the countryside.

So far, the conflict has killed thousands of people, many of whom allegedly died as a result of indiscriminate shelling of cities in Tigray by Ethiopian forces. A local official told Reuters in January that more than two million people have been displaced by fighting, far exceeding previous estimates. The conflict also threatens a regional humanitarian disaster.

In January, the U.N. refugee agency said some 56,000 people had fled the fighting in Tigray, many of whom have ended up in neighboring Sudan.

Last month, The New York Times published a story citing an internal U.S. government report that described a systematic campaign of ethnic cleansing in Tigray.

Fighters supporting Addis Ababa’s side in the conflict were “deliberately and efficiently rendering Western Tigray ethnically homogeneous through the organized use of force and intimidation,” the Times quoted from the report, which also said that, “Whole villages were severely damaged or completely erased.”

What is the Tigray People’s Liberation Front?

The TPLF originally formed in the 1970s to push for Tigrayan self-determination, a goal it later moved away from. In a remarkable twist, it eventually found itself at the center of national politics. It became the dominant player in a coalition of ethnic political parties known as the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front, or EPRDF, which led Ethiopia’s government for nearly three decades.

Abiy came to power in 2018 as the head of the EPRDF. But a year later, he dissolved the party, saying he hoped to put the party’s history of ethnic divisiveness behind it. Instead, Abiy sought to fold the EPRDF’s constituents into a new political party. But the TPLF refused to go along, instead retreating to its power base in Tigray, where it enjoys widespread support.

What led up to the current conflict?

After it was sidelined at the national level, the TPLF was accused by Abiy’s government of seeking to destabilize Ethiopia by orchestrating ethnic violence across the country.

Abiy had promised to hold the country’s first truly democratic elections last summer. However, citing the COVID-19 pandemic, he postponed them.

The TPLF said that delaying the vote amounted to an unconstitutional extension of Abiy’s presidential term. The group then held its own regional elections anyway, claiming a decisive win. Abiy’s government subsequently declared the Tigray elections invalid.

The two sides called each other illegitimate in the lead-up to the TPLF attack on the Sero base. In response, the government sent the Ethiopian National Defense Forces, backed by soldiers from the Amhara region, which borders Tigray.

Who has the upper hand in the fighting?

After fighting commenced in November, the Ethiopian National Defense Forces quickly captured many of Tigray’s main cities, including the regional capital, Mekele, with approximately a half-million people. Abiy declared the main phase of the conflict over; however, the TPLF still controls large swaths of Tigray. Ethiopia has said it is waging a “final offensive” against the group.

What role has Eritrea played?

Eritrea, which was once part of Ethiopia, fought and won a brutal, decades-long war of independence that ended in 1991. The two countries went to war again in 1998 in a territorial conflict that ended inconclusively in 2000, claiming an estimated 100,000 lives.

However, shortly after taking office, Abiy reached out to Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki, and the two forged a historic peace accord aimed at putting the countries’ mutual enmity in the past. Abiy won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019 for his efforts to resolve the long-standing conflict.

Abiy appears to have won a staunch ally in Isaias. Eritrean forces are reportedly engaged in the Tigray fight, backing Ethiopia. The Associated Press reported that Eritrean soldiers were involved in a massacre of civilians in the town of Axum in the early days of the conflict. Amnesty International has also blamed Eritrea for the mass killing at Axum. Eritrean forces also reportedly carried out a similar attack on civilians at a church in the Tigrayan town of Dengelat.

Both governments have denied that Eritrean troops are even in Ethiopia. In an interview with state media last month, Isaias didn’t comment on the presence of Eritrean forces in Tigray, but he appeared to hint at it. He expressed concern over the Tigray situation and said Eritrea was “trying our level best” to help Ethiopia “in accordance to our obligation,” the BBC reported.

Abiy, speaking to parliament in November, called the Eritrean people “our brothers,” and friends “who stood by our side on a tough day.”

What does the U.N. say?

The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, has asked Ethiopia for access to Tigray to investigate possible war crimes there, after reports of extrajudicial killings and sexual violence.

Bachelet says her office has verified some atrocities in Tigray, including ones committed by Eritrean forces, as well as the “indiscriminate shelling in Mekele, Humera and Adigrat towns in Tigray region.”

What has the U.S. said?

The Biden administration describes the situation in Tigray as “a deepening humanitarian crisis.”

Secretary of State Antony Blinken, citing “credible reports” of human rights abuses, has pressed Addis Ababa to end the conflict, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said.

“The secretary urged the Ethiopian government to take immediate, concrete steps to protect civilians, including refugees, and to prevent further violence,” he said in a statement.

The Biden administration has repeatedly called for the immediate withdrawal of Eritrean soldiers and Amhara regional forces. It has also asked for the African Union to help resolve the crisis.

Echoing comments made by Blinken, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., said “The onus to prevent further atrocities and human suffering falls squarely on the Ethiopian government shoulders.”

“We urge the Ethiopian government to support an immediate end to the fighting in Tigray,” she said. “To that end, the prompt withdrawal of Eritrean forces and Amhara regional forces from Tigray are essential steps, and we urge the broader region to work fast and together toward a peaceful solution.”

What is at stake in the conflict?

With the apparent involvement of Eritrea, and a flood of refugees into Sudan, the situation threatens to become both a wider conflict and a deepening humanitarian crisis in a part of the world that has seen more than its share of human misery in recent decades.

For Abiy, the Nobel laureate, and Eritrea’s Isaias, their reputations as peacemakers have taken a severe hit. Allegations of atrocities and possible war crimes could effectively end whatever international good will they enjoyed.

Meanwhile, for President Biden, the conflict could prove a difficult balancing act.

On the one hand, the Biden administration has shown an eagerness to reassert the U.S.’s role as an international champion of human rights, after such considerations took a back seat under former President Donald Trump.

But by shunning Addis Ababa, the administration would risk decades of close U.S.-Ethiopia ties and cooperation in fighting regional terrorism. Since the end of its conflicts with Eritrea, Ethiopia has played a stabilizing role in the Horn of Africa region — most notably making up the backbone of the African Union Mission in Somalia, where peacekeeping forces have sought to tamp down a resurgence of the Islamist insurgent group al-Shabab.

Egypt’s Sisi ups pressure for Ethiopia dam deal on Sudan visit

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MEMO | Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi called on Saturday for a binding deal by the summer on the operation of a giant Ethiopian hydropower dam, as he made his first visit to neighbouring Sudan since the 2019 overthrow of Omar Al-Bashir, Reuters reports.

Egypt also signalled support for Sudan in a dispute with Ethiopia over an area on the border between the two countries where there have recently been armed skirmishes.

Both Egypt and Sudan lie downstream from the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), which Addis Ababa says is crucial to its economic development.

Ethiopia, which says it has every right to use Nile waters long exploited by Egypt, started filling the reservoir behind the dam last summer after Egypt and Sudan failed to secure a legally binding agreement on how the dam will be operated.

Khartoum fears the dam, which lies on the Blue Nile close to the border with Sudan, could increase the risk of flooding and affect the safe operation of its own Nile dams, while water-scarce Egypt fears its supplies from the Nile could be hit.

Years of diplomatic talks over the project have repeatedly stalled. Egypt and Sudan’s positions have drawn closer as Cairo has engaged in a flurry of diplomacy over the issue in the past two years.

This week Egypt’s chief of staff signed a military cooperation agreement with his Sudanese counterpart during a visit to Sudan.

“We affirmed the necessity of returning to serious and effective negotiations with the aim of reaching, as soon as possible and before the next flood season, a just, balanced and legally binding agreement,” Sisi said after meeting Sudan’s leaders.

Sudan recently proposed that the United States, European Union, United Nations and African Union should actively mediate in the dispute, rather than simply observing talks, a suggestion that Egypt supports.

Ethiopia this week indicated its opposition to adding mediators to an existing African Union-led process.

Sisi’s call came a day after Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry appealed to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for a return to “serious” negotiations over the dam, according to Egypt’s foreign ministry.

Meeting with the head of Sudan’s ruling council, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, Sisi also discussed “recent Sudanese moves to extend state sovereignty on its eastern borders with Ethiopia, which come within the context of Sudan’s respect for international agreements”, a statement from Egypt’s presidency said.

Sudan and Ethiopia have blamed each other over unrest in the border area of Al-Fashqa, long settled by Ethiopian farmers. Ethiopia has rejected Sudan’s claims to be asserting its rights to control the area under a border agreement from 1903.

Since Bashir was toppled following mass protests, a military-civilian council has held power in Sudan under a political transition expected to last until the end of 2023.