Ethiopia’s Civil War Creates a Hotbed of International Crimes
There is a civil war raging in Ethiopia destabilizing what has been one of Africa’s more stable countries for decades.[1] The conflict began in November 2020 when the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (T.P.L.F.) launched a preemptive strike against Ethiopian federal forces from their stronghold in the northern region of Tigray.[2] Since then, the conflict has displaced millions, killed over half a million people, and created a number of humanitarian crises.[3]
According to the Human Rights Watch, 2.3 million people have been left in need of assistance.[4] The Tigray region had been suffering before the outbreak of conflict as well. It is home to one of the worst food crises in the last decade, brought upon by severe droughts, a brutal flooding season, and the worst locust outbreak in 25 years.[5] Food aid is desperately needed in the region. The conflict has made it more difficult for international aid to arrive. Western aid agencies have accused Ethiopian Prime Minister, Mr. Abiy Ahmed, of weaponizing hunger in an ethnic cleansing campaign against the people of Tigray.[6] Mr. Ahmed kicked out seven United Nations (“U.N.”) officials and only a fraction of the UN humanitarian aid was being allowed into Tigray in October 2021.[7] From mid-December 2021 through the end of January 2022, no World Food Organization convoy reached the region.[8] On March 24, 2022, the Ethiopian federal government and T.P.L.F. reached a humanitarian truce.[9] This truce allowed international aid to reach millions in need. However, in August 2022, the conflict resumed interrupting aid to those displaced by the conflict.[10]
There are harrowing reports of atrocities being committed on all sides of this conflict. Ethiopian forces have been accused by the U.N. investigators of potential war crimes and crimes against humanity, which includes the use of starvation as a weapon against the people of Tigray.[11] This appears to have been acknowledged by Prime Minister Ahmed who said that any Ethiopian soldier who has raped Tigrayan women will be held accountable in a court of law.[12] Government-allied ethnic militias have also been accused of murdering innocent Tigrayan refugees.[13] The country of Eritrea, which borders Ethiopia to the north, has sent its military into Tigray to assist Ethiopian federal forces. The Eritrean military is accused of indiscriminate shelling and killing of civilians in the city of Axum.[14] Tigrayan forces have also been accused by U.N. investigators of potential war crimes and human rights abuses, such as massacres of civilians, sexual violence and rape, and looting and destruction of property.
Convention IV, Article 4 of the Geneva Convention explicitly protects civilians during armed conflicts. 15 Both sides in this conflict are accused of violating this international law. While the conflict is ongoing, it will be difficult to hold those accountable for these crimes. The United States and other western countries are pushing for both Ethiopian and Tigrayan leaders to attend peaceful African Union led talks in South Africa, as well as for Eritrea to pull its troops out of Tigray.[15] While it is unclear what a peaceful resolution to this conflict may be, the damage already done in terms of cost of life and human impact is clear. Hopefully with a more concrete peace agreement, Ethiopia can begin to heal as a nation while the U.N. investigators continue to gather facts that can potentially be used in international trials to hold those responsible for international crimes accountable. Any potential charges or conviction would be quite the fall from grace for Prime Minister Ahmed, who won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2019 for his part in securing peace between Eritrea and Ethiopia.[16]
Harry Solomon is a staff member of Fordham International Law Journal Volume XLVI.
This is a student blog post and in no way represents the views of the Fordham International Law Journal.
[1] See Declan Walsh & Abdi Latif Dahir, Why is Ethiopia at War with Itself?, N.Y. Times (Mar. 16, 2022), https://www.nytimes.com/article/ethiopia-tigray-conflict-explained.html#link-5149fd7f.
[2] See Id.
[3] See Nicholas Bariyo & Michael M. Philips, Fighting Erupts Again in Ethiopia, As U.S. Tries to Restart Peace Talks, Wall Street Journal (Oct. 13, 2022), https://www.wsj.com/articles/fighting-erupts-again-in-ethiopia-as-u-s-tries-to-restart-peace-talks-11665655915.
[4] See Tigray Conflict, Human Rights Watch, https://www.hrw.org/tag/tigray-conflict (last visited Oct. 16, 2022).
[5] See Ethiopia’s Tigray Crisis: What’s Happening + How to Help, Global Giving, https://www.globalgiving.org/learn/ethiopias-tigray-crisis-how-to-help/?utm_term=ethiopia%20conflict%202020&utm_campaign=Specific+Initiatives/Projects+(CIM)&utm_source=adwords&utm_medium=ppc&hsa_acc=3655017278&hsa_cam=6497848268&hsa_grp=118782000930&hsa_ad=527828935873&hsa_src=g&hsa_tgt=kwd-1317752091819&hsa_kw=ethiopia%20conflict%202020&hsa_mt=b&hsa_net=adwords&hsa_ver=3&gclid=CjwKCAjwkaSaBhA4EiwALBgQaN_urNUa7objPxVSo3Cz2vZfpbXjhwAnFQq5XyuTyPrR5WAEXDrG9hoC7yYQAvD_BwE (last visited Oct. 16, 2022).
[6] Nicholas Bariyo, U.N. Warns of Escalating Humanitarian Crisis in Ethiopia’s Tigray Region, Wall Street Journal (Oct. 1, 2021), https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-n-warns-of-escalating-humanitarian-crisis-in-ethiopias-tigray-region-11633105224?mod=article_inline.
[7] See Id.
[8] See Severe Hunger Tightens Grip on Northern Ethiopia, World Food Programme, https://www.wfp.org/news/severe-hunger-tightens-grip-northern-ethiopia#:~:text=In%20Afar%20region%2C%20to%20the,emergency%20threshold%20of%2015%20percent. (last visited Oct. 26, 2022).
[9] See U.S. Dep’t of State, Press Statement, Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State on Five Months of Humanitarian Truce in Ethiopia (Aug. 24, 2022), https://www.state.gov/five-months-of-a-humanitarian-truce-in-ethiopia/.
[10] See Id.
[11] See Lisa Schlein, UN Investigators Accuse Ethiopia of Possible War Crimes in Tigray, VOA News (Sept. 22, 2022, 11:59 AM), https://www.voanews.com/a/un-investigators-accuse-ethiopia-of-possible-war-crimes-in-tigray-/6758619.html.
[12] See Simon Marks and Declan Walsh, ‘They Told Us Not to Resist’: Sexual Violence Pervades Ethiopia’s War, N.Y. Times (Apr. 1, 2021), https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/01/world/africa/ethiopia-tigray-sexual-assault.html.
[13] See Abdi Latif Dahir, Fleeing Ethiopians Tell of Ethnic Massacres in Tigray Wall, N.Y. Times (Nov. 17, 2021), https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/09/world/africa/ethiopia-tigray-sudan.html.
[14] See Amnesty Int’l, Ethiopia: Eritrean Troops’ Massacre of Hundreds of Axum Civilians May Amount to Crime Against Humanity, https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2021/02/ethiopia-eritrean-troops-massacre-of-hundreds-of-axum-civilians-may-amount-to-crime-against-humanity/.
15 See Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War art. 4, Aug. 12, 1949, 6 U.S.T. 3516, 17 U.N.T.S. 287.
[15] See Tigray: U.S. Envoy, Ethiopia’s Deputy PM Meet, Africa News (Oct. 14, 2022), https://www.africanews.com/2022/10/14/tigray-us-envoy-ethiopias-deputy-pm-meet/.
[16] See Supra note 1