Tigray - The African Mirror

Nov

2023

Residents report gunfire in Ethiopian holy city, but govt says all peaceful

FIGHTING broke out between the army and a regional militia in Ethiopia's mediaeval holy city of Lalibela, a World Heritage site, four residents told Reuters, but the government said the area was peaceful. Fano, a part-time militia in the northern Amhara region which has no formal command structure, has been battling the army since late July. It captured Lalibela, famous for its rock-hewn churches, and Gondar, the second-biggest city in Amhara, for several days in August before being repulsed. The fighting, which has killed hundreds of people, is the biggest security challenge faced by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed since the Tigray war ended…

Jun

2023

By The African Mirror

Ethiopia: how a lucky village in Tigray survived the devastating war

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

JAN Nyssen, Ghent University; Biadgilgn Demissie, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB); Emnet Negash, Ghent University; Hailemariam Meaza, Mekelle University; Sofie Annys, Ghent University; Tesfaalem Gebreyohannes, Mekelle University, and Zbelo Tesfamariam, Mekelle University The war waged by the Ethiopian Federal Government and Eritrea against the Tigray regional government, which lasted from November 2020 to November 2022, caused massive devastation. Multiple war crimes were reported and there were claims of genocidal intent. A starvation campaign led to the death of at least 300,000 civilian victims. One of the places that managed to escape the destruction was the Dabba Selama village. Located in…

Mar

2023

By The African Mirror

Ethiopia takes Tigray’s TPLF party off terrorism list

NEWS

ETHIOPIA'S parliament removed the Tigray region's main political movement from a list of terrorist organizations, a major step towards establishing an interim local government after a two-year civil war. The Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), which led the northern region into war with the federal government in late 2020, was designated a terrorist group in May 2021. The conflict ended with a truce signed in Pretoria last November after tens of thousands of people were killed and millions forced from their homes. Ethiopia's parliament said in a statement that a majority of lawmakers had approved the delisting. The delisting is…

Mar

2023

By The African Mirror

Exclusive: Ethiopia seeks to end U.N.-ordered probe into Tigray war abuses

NEWS

EMMA FARGE and GABRIELLE TÉTRAULT-FARBER ETHIOPIA is courting support for a motion to cut short a U.N.-mandated inquiry into atrocities in the Tigray war, five diplomats said, in a move that could divide African and Western nations. The Ethiopian government's two-year conflict with forces in the northern Tigray region ended last November with thousands dead and millions uprooted. Both sides blamed each other for widely-documented atrocities, including massacres, rape and detentions without trial. Though the Geneva-based U.N. Human Rights Council has never ended a probe before its mandate, Addis Ababa has circulated a draft version of a resolution calling for the Tigray inquiry to…

Feb

2023

By The African Mirror

Ethiopian Orthodox Church reaches deal with breakaway Oromo synod

RELIGION

GIULIA PARAVICINI THE influential Ethiopian Orthodox Church said it had agreed with a breakaway synod from the Oromiya region following deadly violence that killed dozens and led to partial internet shutdowns. The rift threatened to bring fresh instability to Africa's second most populous nation, just as its starts to turn the page on a two-year war in the northern Tigray region that killed tens of thousands before a truce was agreed upon in November. The row started on February 4, when three clerics from Oromiya accused the leadership of the main church of discriminating against Oromos, the country's largest ethnic group. They…

Jan

2023

By The African Mirror

Ethiopia’s road to peace

NEWS

TOMMY WILKES A year that began with no end in sight for one of the world's deadliest conflicts finished on a note of cautious optimism in Ethiopia's northern region of Tigray after a November ceasefire agreement. The two-year-long war has caused a dire humanitarian crisis, killing tens of thousands, leaving millions in severe need of food and threatening the stability of Africa's second-most populous country. On November 2, Ethiopia's federal government and the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), a guerrilla force-turned-political party that dominates the region, agreed to stop fighting following African Union-mediated talks. Civil war erupted in November 2020 after months…

Nov

2022

By The African Mirror

Parties to war in Ethiopia’s Tigray region agree to stop fighting

NEWS

ALEXANDER WINNING and TIM COCKS THE Ethiopian government and regional forces from Tigray agreed to cease hostilities, a dramatic diplomatic breakthrough two years into a war that has killed thousands, displaced millions and left hundreds of thousands facing famine. Just over a week after formal peace talks mediated by the African Union (AU) began in the South African capital Pretoria, delegates from both sides signed an agreement described by an AU official as a "permanent cessation of hostilities". "The two parties in the Ethiopian conflict have formally agreed to the cessation of hostilities as well as to systematic, orderly, smooth and coordinated disarmament,"…

Oct

2022

By The African Mirror

WHO’s Tedros says narrow window to ‘prevent genocide’ in Ethiopia

NEWS

WORLD Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said there was a "very narrow window now to prevent genocide" in his home region of Tigray in northern Ethiopia. Tedros, who previously served as Ethiopia's health minister and foreign affairs minister, has been sharply critical of Ethiopian authorities throughout the two-year war. The government has, in turn, accused him of trying to procure arms and diplomatic backing for rebel forces - charges he has denied. In his sharpest comments on the war yet, Tedros told reporters in Geneva that food and healthcare were being used as weapons of war in Tigray, which…

Oct

2022

By The African Mirror

Ethiopian army captures city from Tigray forces

NEWS

ETHIOPIAN government forces and their allies captured Shire, one of the biggest cities in the northern region of Tigray, from regional forces they have been battling on and off since late 2020, two diplomatic and humanitarian sources said. The violence in Tigray, which has spilled over into neighbouring regions and drawn in the Eritrean military, has killed thousands of civilians, uprooted millions and left hundreds of thousands now facing possible famine. The conflict stems from grievances rooted in periods of Ethiopia's turbulent past when particular regional power blocs held sway over the country as a whole, and in tensions over…

Oct

2022

By The African Mirror

African Union chair calls for Ethiopia truce, peace talks

NEWS

THE chair of the African Union called for an immediate ceasefire in Ethiopia's Tigray region and urged parties in the two-year-old conflict there to agree to direct peace talks. Moussa Faki said he was following reports of escalating violence in Tigray with grave concern. "The chairperson strongly calls for an immediate, unconditional ceasefire and the resumption of humanitarian services," the AU said in a statement. AU-led peace talks proposed earlier this month were delayed for logistical reasons. Getachew Reda, a spokesperson for the Tigray forces, called the AU statement welcome if overdue "in light of the extremely alarming humanitarian crisis unfolding as…