People are starving in
the Tigray region. The culprit is the devastating war
In the early 1980s, as a terrible famine claimed between
400,000 and 1 million lives in Ethiopia, the international community responded
to what was widely misunderstood and misreported as a natural disaster.
Famines are never just a matter of drought. Human Rights Watch later
noted that Ethiopia’s repeated crises – especially the devastating one of
1983-85 – “were in large part created by government policies, especially
counter-insurgency strategies”. Tigray was “the very nadir of the famine”, as a
destructive army offensive was accompanied by the deliberate blocking of aid.
Now famine has reached Tigray again – and once more, it is because an
Ethiopian government is at war with the Tigray People’s Liberation Front. The
federal government wants to celebrate the beginning of twice-delayed
parliamentary elections on Monday, portraying them as the advent of democracy.
But the polls are overshadowed by questions over electoral conditions and
multiple crises, most of all in Tigray (where there will be no voting). Over 350,000 people in the region are in famine conditions, and 2
million more are on the brink – more than a third of the region’s population.
They include 33,000 children at imminent risk of death.
The displacement of millions of residents, general
disruption and utter disregard for civilians have contributed to the disaster.
But the UN’s top humanitarian official, Mark Lowcock, has warned that food is being used as a weapon. He accused forces from
neighbouring Eritrea – supporting the Ethiopian prime minister, Abiy Ahmed – of
“trying to deal with the Tigrayan population by starving them”. Witnesses have
described soldiers deliberately torching crops and grain stores, and
slaughtering cattle needed for ploughing. Mr Lowcock said they had also
deliberately blocked aid shipments.
The conflict between the central government and the TPLF,
which exploded after months of political struggle, is a complicated one. All
parties stand accused of war crimes. But of 130 aid access violations recorded
by the UN in May, 108 were by Eritrean soldiers or Ethiopian soldiers, or a
combination of the two; 21 by Amhara militias who have joined forces against
the Tigrayans, saying they are reclaiming stolen land; and one by the Tigrayan
opposition. The deliberate starvation of a population comes on top of the
horrors already documented – including attacks upon medical facilities, massacres of civilians and sexual violence “with a level of cruelty beyond comprehension”, in
the words of the UN.
The EU and the US have already suspended aid and imposed
sanctions. The G7 communique issued a week ago called for an immediate
ceasefire, unimpeded humanitarian access to all areas and the immediate
withdrawal of Eritrean forces – three months after Mr Abiy promised that they
would leave. There is, as yet, no sign of their departure. And while fighting
appears to have ebbed somewhat recently, the fear is that, far from moving
towards a resolution, both sides are using the time to
prepare for more intense conflict. While a ceasefire and the massive
scaling up of aid delivery are essential to avert an even more severe
humanitarian emergency, they are also seen as a boost to the enemy. The
conflict looks increasingly entrenched: unwinnable, and with no prospect of
This is already the worst famine since the one in Somalia a
decade ago that killed more than 250,000 people. It could become much worse. Mr
Lowcock has warned that a disaster on the scale of 1983-85 is feasible. Then,
as now, the starvation is the work of humans, and humans have the power to stop
Voting underway in
Ethiopia amid conflict and a raging humanitarian crisis
Ethiopians headed to the polls Monday for a controversial election being carried out amid an ongoing conflict and a raging humanitarian crisis in the country’s northern Tigray region. The EU’s special envoy to Ethiopia, Finnish foreign minister Pekka Haavisto, said Monday he hoped the election would help facilitate dialogue on the “poor human rights” situation in Tigray.: