Examining the Tigray Crisis on Ethiopian Independence Day

Today in 1941, Ethiopia successfully disposed of Italian occupation and regained its full independence. Ethiopia’s reputation as the only African country besides Liberia that was not colonized was cemented by the Battle of Adwa. The Battle of Adwa in 1896, where male and female pastoralists and farmers of Adwa in the Tigray region successfully defended the country from Italian colonization, has made the Tigray region a place of extreme historical significance. However, the current Tigray Crisis is rewriting a different legacy for the region and the country. To commemorate Ethiopian Independence Day, we are exploring the country’s humanitarian crisis to learn about its origins, impact, and way forward.

The Tigray Crisis is an ongoing conflict that started in November 2020, between the Ethiopian government and a rebel group turned political group called the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) in the Tigray region. TPLF, founded in 1976, rose to be the dominant armed liberation power in Ethiopia. In 1991, TPLF and allies overtook political power in the country via coup d’etat, and a TPLF majority ruled the country until Abiy Ahmed’s election as Prime Minister in 2018.

(Tigray region shaded in red)

On November 4th, 2020, Abiy Ahmed, the prime minister of Ethiopia, launched a military attack on the TPLF, after TPLF loyalists ambushed a government base and attempted to take some of the military’s weapons. In addition to the defensive attack, Abiy instituted a multiple-month media blackout in the region. Since then, some media outlets in the Tigray region have been restored, but international communities’ access to crisis updates continues to be limited.

Tigray, in the northern part of the country, lies on the Eritrean border. Eritrean troops have been deployed to the Tigray region to assist the Ethiopian government’s attempts to quell the Tigray loyalists.

(Ethiopian children in Tigray)

By November 9, 2020, TPLF loyalists carried out the Mai Kadra massacre, killing an estimated 600 people in the Tigray town of Mai Kadra. Amhara survivors of the massacre recounted TPLF youth targeting Amhara tribe members, and recall loyalists requesting to see town members’ ID cards to identify ethnic groups before committing the crime. On the other hand, Tigrayan survivors report that the Ethiopian government and Amhara military loyalists groups were behind the attack, and targeted Tigrayans. Rape, continued killings, sexual violence, and other horrors continue to plague Ethiopian and neighboring Eritrean communities at this time.

Thousands have been killed, over 2 million people have been displaced, and an estimated 50,000 refugees have fled to neighboring Sudan for safety.

 (Tigray Woman in Ethiopia. Photo by Rod Waddington)

TPLF and its loyalists are fighting to keep their political independence. Abiy’s mission of centralizing Ethiopian government power has received backlash from regions like Tigray, who place a high value on their ability to self-govern. Mistrust of political unity among the Tigray people may be a case of historical memory. Between 1972 and 1974, many regions in Ethiopia, including the Tigray region, suffered from famine and drought. However, then-president Haile Selassie declined to provide humanitarian aid to the region, and an estimated 250,000 impoverished farmers died of starvation.

As the Tigray region’s access to outside communication is extremely limited, it is difficult to gauge how many more attacks have occurred. The UNFPA reports that approximately 96,000 refugees need food, protection, and health services. Learn about how you can help here: https://www.msf.org/ethiopia-tigray-conflict.