Ethiopia: Tigray fighting flares again
Clashes between the Ethiopian army and Tigrayan forces have led to hundreds of civilians crossing into neighboring Sudan, marking another serious threat to a 2022 peace agreement. Heavy artillery and drones were used during the fighting, which was concentrated in contested western Tigray. Both sides have been amassing troops in recent months and there has been a significant recruitment drive in Tigray, where regional authorities have forcibly conscripted civilians, including children, according to Human Rights Watch.
Close to a million Tigrayans have been unable to return to their homes despite the peace deal, and have struggled to recover from the ethnic cleansing and siege campaign carried out by the Ethiopian army and its allies during the 2020-2022 conflict. A return to war would likely involve Eritrea, and could pull in Sudan, merging two of the deadliest conflicts in recent history.
From The New Humanitarian, Aug. 7
Ethiopia clashes raise fear of return to civil war
Over the last few years, there have been multiple rounds of warnings that Ethiopia could slide back into civil war—they look a lot more real now. Fighters from the northern region of Tigray took over the main airport at Mekelle on Sept. 23 and fought federal troops in neighbouring Afar and Amhara. A few days earlier, its ruling party, the TPLF, joined a new alliance of seven rebel groups to overthrow the government. Addis Ababa has responded with drone strikes—including a hit on a Catholic Relief Services convoy carrying food aid—and counter-attacks. The escalating clashes and bellicose language by both sides render the already problematic 2022 peace agreement increasingly irrelevant.
Tigray has been under quasi-siege for months, with the central government preventing the transfer of fuel, medical supplies, and civil servant salaries. Switching off power and communications could be next. To add to Tigray's woes, "many households" are experiencing complete crop failure due to drought, according to a Sept. 17 government report. Without an onset of rainfall before the approaching harvest season, "even minimal production cannot be expected," it warned. (TNH)