What is going on in Ethiopia, and why we should care
By: Dr Alan Smith
Tags: War, Ethiopia, UK Politics, Foreign Policy, Current Affairs

What is going on in Ethiopia, and why we should care

Afghanistan may dominate our headlines, but the surging ethnic violence in Ethiopia should seriously worry all those concerned with human rights Dr Alan Smith Sep 7·3 min read

In April this year, the influential International Development Committee stated in its publication on the conflict in Tigray, Ethiopia, that the conflict represented an early test of the UK’s commitment to the principles and approach of the UK as a ‘force for good’ globally[1]. Fast forward five months later and far from being resolved, the conflict in Tigray is fast spiralling out of control into a war that threatens to engulf the entirety of Ethiopia.

The unforeseen and lightening quick collapse of the Afghanistan government along with the global evacuation effort was the foreign affairs story of the summer. Afghanistan, not surprisingly, occupies a certain significance to the general UK audience that dwarfs considerations relating to Ethiopia, a factor that likely explains the formers domination of the news headlines. Judged solely on humanitarian considerations, the conflict in Ethiopia is no less deserving of coverage, particularly as the litmus test Parliament set itself appears to be unravelling before our very eyes.

This week, the Daily Telegraph revealed shocking reports of ethnic Tigrayans being targeting by a “door-to-door” policy of ethnic cleansing that “included throwing men, women and children into makeshift concentration camps, cutting off limbs and dumping mutilated bodies into mass graves”[2]. The Government of Ethiopia adamantly deny such reports, labelling them as “false allegations lodged by the TPLF (Tigray People’s Liberation Front)”[3]. What is actually going on we do not know; reporting and access to reliable information about the conflict has and continues to be a major issue for western observers. These latest reports, if true, signify a worrying further escalation in violence beyond the horrors reported earlier in the year of indiscriminate killing and systematic rape.

The frontiers of the war are also extending. Where it was previously confined to Tigray, the TPLF’s counter offensive in June means that conflict has spread into the neighbouring Afar and Amhara region. The two-million displaced Tigrayans are now joined by 300,000 people from Afar and Amhara. Starvation too has spread, with the UN now estimating that 5.2 million people require urgent assistant and humanitarian aid[4]. As of the 26th August, 400,000 people were experiencing famine conditions, more than the rest of the world combined[5].

Alone, this humanitarian disaster is of drastic proportions. What makes it particularly concerning is the ethnic component. Ethiopia is a multi-ethnic state which has had a complex and difficult history, one that is not immune to past ethnic conflict. For that reason, the politics of the conflict is not something I intend to comment on. However, as the conflict rages on, the question is whether Ethiopia will be able to pull back from the brink. The events in Rwanda serve to remind us of the horrors that can occur otherwise.

The fear is always that ‘never again’ could just be around the corner.

[1] https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5801/cmselect/cmintdev/1289/128903.htm

[2] https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2021/09/05/ethiopias-tigrayans-rounded-mutilated-dismembered-civil-war/

[3] https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/ethiopia-tigray-ethnic-cleansing-concentration-camps-b1914876.html

[4] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-58450223

[5] https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/over-400000-people-in-tigray-are-experiencing-famine-conditions-more-than-in-the-rest-of-the-world-combined