Tag: May Situation Report

On November 4, 2020, the unelected Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed began what his administration has called a “law enforcement operation” against the rightfully elected Tigray regional government. By his own admission, Abiy mobilized the Ethiopian National Defence Forces (ENDF), special forces from neighboring regions (Amhara Special Forces and Afar Special Forces), and most alarmingly, invited the army of a neighboring country – Eritrea – to wage war against the people of Tigray. Despite the repeated assertions by the Ethiopian government that this is a domestic “law
enforcement operation,” the campaign against Tigray is clearly a regional war involving various domestic and international actors. And despite urgent calls by the international community, the Ethiopian government has refused to provide unhindered access to aid organizations, UN investigators or mediators.

In the six months since the war was officially declared, the over 7 million residents of Tigray have been subject to innumerable human rights violations, including massacres, extra-judicial executions, forced displacement, starvation, and lack of access to health care and essential services. A list of 1,900 Tigrayans murdered in approximately 150 mass killings was recently compiled by University of Ghent professor Jan Nyssen. He has illuminated a harrowing pattern: retaliatory killings of civilians by Eritrean or Ethiopian forces after losing a battle ^[1]The Guardian (2021, April 2). https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/apr/02/ethiopia-1900-people-killed-inmassacres-in-tigray-identified.

Despite reports of continued massacres, there is a lack of reporting on a new estimate of civilians who have reportedly died since the war started. The last recorded estimate of civilian deaths is 70,000 ^[2]VOA News. (2021, March 19). https://www.voanews.com/africa/ethiopian-diplomat-urges-peace-talks-tigray-war. Additionally, over 70,000 have fled to neighboring Sudan ^[3]Bearak, M. (2021, March 26). In Sudan’s sweltering camps, refugees from Tigray dream of independence from Ethiopia. Washington Post. … Continue reading and 2.2 million are internally displaced ^[4]Reuters Staff. (2021, January 6). Over 2 million people displaced by conflict in Ethiopia’s Tigray region – local official. Reuters. … Continue reading. Roughly 5 million are at risk of starvation ^[5]BBC News. (2021, January 18). Ethiopia Tigray crisis: Fear of mass starvation. … Continue reading. Hundreds of reports of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) by Ethiopian and Eritrean forces and militias are
the tip of the iceberg, given that those who are able to report do so at a risk to
their safety and most of rural Tigray is inaccessible.