Starvation Plagues the Tigray Region of Ethiopia Amidst Internal Conflict

Ethiopian Federal Troops have entered the Tigray region to combat TGLF insurrections. Source.

Thousands of people are fleeing their homes in the Tigray region of Ethiopia. Those that have not escaped to Sudan or other regions of the country, are internally displaced and are lacking access to necessary resources such as food and medicines. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has initiated a full-scale operation to re-establish the government’s position in the Tigray region, after securing the region’s capital in late November.

Although Prime Minister Abiy’s attempts to gain control of the region have been thus far successful, it has left in its wake a decimated region. The Red Cross is reporting that around 80% of the 6 million individuals in the Tigray region are unreachable and in dire need of aid. The conflict has endured for four months now which has left people extremely malnourished. Displacement camps are filled with women and children who have been described as “emaciated” and in desperate need of food. 

The conflict centers around the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) which, for decades before 2018, held a dominant position in Ethiopia’s ruling government. Minister Abiy rose to power due to a general consensus of disapproval and distrust in a minority ethnic group (represented by TPLF) holding a majority of power in Ethiopia. The Tigray people are roughly 6% of Ethiopia’s population and the majority are located in the northernmost region in the country. The TPLF gradually felt more threatened by the new government and its decisions, and unilaterally held elections late last year as-scheduled after the federal government decided to postpone national elections due to COVID-19. Tensions were therefore already high before the TPLF began attacking federal forces in the region. 

Although the conflict is relatively new, it is suspected that both the TPLF and the federal government had already made preparations before the first violence erupted in early November. Now the international community is extremely worried that this conflict will become a protracted civil war. Already in the course of months, most of the people within Tigray are in dire conditions. On top of this, a large percentage of the region is in a blackout zone, where no one outside of the region can access or communicate with people within the region. Minister Abiy has publicly announced that no federal forces have caused any casualties in the Tigray region, and a federal Twitter account has been created to report on the conflict. Still, it is hard to truly know or analyze the conditions within Tigray due to its effective isolation from the outside world.

Ethiopian Red Cross President Ato Abera Tola has warned federal and international officials that reports of death by starvation in Tigray have started to come in. He believes that these numbers will rise to the thousands and potentially the tens of thousands. These conditions are largely due to the fact that the conflict surfaced right before the harvest season in the region, meaning that the displaced population has been unable to perform the harvest and stores from the previous year are all but dried up. On top of all of this, the region was also experiencing a locust outbreak prior to the conflict. These conditions, paired with people fleeing their homes and towns in fear of the violence from the combat, have left many in the region surviving off whatever food they had before they left their homes.

On top of the unrest within Ethiopia, the region surrounding the nation may also fall into disarray. Ethiopia has largely acted as a regulator of Sudan and Somalia, leading the region in stability. Now, with Ethiopians at war with one another, conflict on the Sudan border has already begun to spark. Somalia is also at a pivotal point of a constitutional crisis that may unravel the progress that has been achieved in the nation. For the sake of Ethiopians already suffering, and the stability of the Horn of Africa as a whole, it is imperative that this conflict comes to a peaceful resolution in the hopes of saving lives and preserving peace.