What’s happening with the conflict in Ethiopia?
Recent fighting in the East African country has led to a communications blackout, mass hunger and no access to humanitarian aid. Here's everything you need to know.
Hey there, and welcome to the seventh issue of The Supplement, a newsletter that fills in the gaps of your other news intake. This is Alex, one-third of the Supplement team!
Each week, we pick a question submitted by you, our readers. If you’d like to submit a question for a future week — it can seriously be about anything — then email us at thesupplementnewsletter@gmail.com. We’re also popping off over on Instagram, so make sure to give us a follow.
This week, we’re tackling this question: What’s happening with the conflict in Ethiopia?
TL;DR: Since early November, Ethiopia’s federal troops have been fighting with the ruling force in the country’s northernmost region of Tigray. As the conflict escalates, it is pushing not only Africa’s second biggest country, but also the wider Horn of Africa toward a humanitarian crisis.
Here’s our answer:
First, where’s Tigray? Tigray is Ethiopia’s northernmost ethnic region, which borders Sudan and Eritrea in East Africa. The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) is the regional governing party.
Since early November, federal troops have been fighting the TPLF after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed alleged that the Tigrayan forces attacked a military base.
But tension has been building for a long time.
In 1991, the TPLF ousted a military dictatorship and formed a ruling coalition with three other ethnic political parties. The TPLF-led coalition would rule Ethiopia for almost 30 years, during which time the country saw both economic growth and heavy political repression. When Abiy came to power in 2018, he brought liberal reforms, sidelined Tigrayan officials and subsequently replaced the coalition with a new party, which the TPLF refused to join. The TPLF’s influence has since declined — but it remains a powerful regional force.
More recently, Ethiopia delayed its federal election, originally planned for August, to 2021 due to COVID-19, allowing Abiy to stay in power beyond his term. The federal government dismissed Tigray’s regional election, which the TPLF held out of defiance, and cut the region’s funding. The TPFL called this decision “tantamount to declaration of war."
Eyes are trained on the conflict because of the humanitarian crisis it is unleashing in Ethiopia and the wider region.
Since the start of the conflict, there has been a communications blackout, with banking services and physical access severely restricted. And while supplies of food, fuel and medicine in Tigray are running low, humanitarian agencies still haven’t been able to enter the region to deliver aid, making the unofficial blockade a potential war crime.
The restrictions also make it difficult for journalists and independent groups to verify claims and investigate atrocities against civilians, including a massacre of over 600 people. Amnesty International — which first reported the attack — said three witnesses linked the massacre to a group loyal to the TPLF, but the organization itself cannot verify this attribution and the TPLF has denied involvement. Outside the region, Tigrayans have been systemically harassed. The UN has sounded the alarm on the risks of “genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity.”
The conflict is also spilling beyond Ethiopia’s border. Over 40,000 people have fled to Sudan, straining a country that is already hosting 1 million refugees from other conflicts. Now, the UN is planning for the arrival of up to 200,000 refugees over the next six months. Besides Sudan, the TPLF has fired rockets at Eritrea because the country supports Ethiopia’s military operations in this fight. In 2018, Ethiopia signed a peace deal with Eritrea, for which Abiy won the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize.
Canada has called for peace dialogues and resolutions, which the Ethiopian government has repeatedly rejected. It is also providing $3 million to support organizations that are doing on-the-ground humanitarian work.
Pssst: if you want to dive more into the conflict’s politics and toll, I wrote a longer explainer for The Globe and Mail.
Here’s someone to follow:
Over the past few months, journalist Marsha McLeod has been delivering amazing deep dives, including an investigation into the horrors at a Thunder Bay jail and a broad survey into why trans and non-binary Canadian students keep being deadnamed while navigating online classrooms. She’ll soon be covering eastern Ontario for TVO.
Here’s a story to check out:
In the latest issue of The Local magazine, journalist Brannavy Jeyasundaram spotlights the crucial role of ethnic media in providing public health information for immigrant communities, especially in a city as diverse as Toronto. Yet these outlets are at the “brink of extinction” and the pandemic is threatening to push them over the edge.
If you’re looking for a longer read or a holiday gift guide, we have curated five excellent Canadian non-fiction books that published this year. And for something to watch, don’t forget to tune into the live conversation between astronaut Chris Hadfield and another third of our Supplement team, Sierra Bein, tonight at 7:30 pm ET.
