A humanitarian crisis continues to erupt in the region as a result of the conflict between Tigrayan forces and Ethiopia’s government. BBC reported that many people in Tigray cannot afford to buy food and doctors are forced to beg as food items and essentials are at unimaginably high prices.
According to a recent report by the United Nations (UN) and its World Food Program (WFP), nearly 40% of Ethiopia’s Tigray suffer from ‘extreme hunger’. According to the report, it translates to 4.6 million people being food insecure, with 2 million severely affected. At least 83% of the people in Tigray region lack food.
Due to an economic blockade, humanitarian organizations cannot reach the Tigray region and aid agencies are forced to travel on foot to deliver food and medical supplies. According to the WEF, three-quarters of the population use extreme coping strategies to survive. Furthermore, the WEF statement noted that the diets of Tigray’s inhabitants are also becoming increasingly impoverished as food is becoming scarce and families rely almost entirely on cereals, limiting portion sizes and the number of meals they eat each day to stretch what food is available.
The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) was taken down in November 2021 after Prime Minister and Nobel Peace Laureate Abiy Ahmed sent troops to topple it. Earlier last year in June, the rebel group regrouped again and launched offensives into the Afar and Amhara regions. Tigray is a nation in eastern Africa that follows a system of government that has led to a crisis between its government and rebels. Since the mid-1990s, Ethiopia has had an ethnic federal government where different ethnic groups control its 10 regions.
Ethiopia prospered under this system, but discontent brewed among many due to corruption allegations and concerns about the level of democracy. After protests in 2018, a new party led by Abiy rose to power. Abiy ended the long-running dispute between Ethiopia and neighbouring Eritrea during his first term, earning a Nobel Peace Prize in the process.
TPLF leaders believed Abiy was attempting to consolidate power. TPLF announced that it would be holding its own regional election in September 2020. According to the Abiy-led government, elections were banned because of Covid. A further fueling factor was the suspension of funding for Tigray by the central government. This is equivalent to declaring war, according to the Tigrayan leaders. Ethiopia’s government began attacking Tigrayan rebels in November 2020, claiming that the rebels were stealing weapons from army outposts; since then, fighting has erupted.
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