A group of people make a bonfire outside the tent in which they live as refugees in the 70 Kare Internally Displaced Persons camp in Mekelle, Tigray, July 2, 2024 (Sipa photo by Ximena Borrazas via AP Images).
Nearly two years after a cease-fire ended one of the most devastating wars of recent times, a fragile peace prevails in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region. But while there has been no major fighting in Tigray since negotiators inked the deal in Pretoria, South Africa, in November 2022, the aftershocks of the conflict continue to be felt.
Beginning in November 2020, the war between the federal military and rebels led by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, or TPLF, killed an estimated 600,000 people and at one point threatened to bring down the government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in Addis Ababa. It also drew in troops from Eritrea and Ethiopia’s Amhara region, south of Tigray, both fighting on the side of the government.
A panel of United Nations experts found that all sides committed potential war crimes. The Eritreans, the investigators said, waged a campaign of sexual slavery in Tigray, while the Ethiopian government used “starvation as a method of warfare” by blocking sorely needed aid. The Tigray side was accused of abuses, too.