The war in Ukraine has garnered considerable media attention since beginning in Feb. of 2022. While the war has significant geo-political implications, it has often overshadowed other bloody conflicts around the world. One of those conflicts has been the civil war in Ethiopia between the Ethiopian Defense Forces and the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front in the region of Tigray.
The two year conflict ended in Pretoria, South Africa on Nov. 2, where both sides of the conflict met for ten days to discuss the terms of peace under the guise of the African Union. The agreement will include humanitarian access to Tigray after the Ethiopian government had shut down vital services for 16 months. Moreover, Tigray had agreed to gradually reintegrating the region back into the federal government as well as disarming and demobilizing its troops.
However, the war has not concluded without tragedy. Approximately half a million people have died while millions more have been displaced. More concerning were the consistent reports of ethnic cleansing in the region of Tigray. In a report published by the Biden administration earlier in the year, it stated that the Ethiopian armed forces had been “deliberately and efficiently rendering Western Tigray ethnically homogeneous through the organized use of force and intimidation.”
Sexual violence has also been a part of the many atrocities occurring across Tigray. Back in April, 500 women had formally reported sexual violence, according to the UN, but likely more cases have surfaced since then. A Tigrayan woman by the name of Mona Lisa had to have her arm amputated after she resisted and survived a rape attempt by a member of the Ethiopian Armed Forces. Unfortunately, to quote Ms. Mona, her case was “not unique.”
While the peace agreement is a significant step toward regional peace, two actors were not included in the negotiations: Eritrea and the Amhara ethnic militias; both groups had supported the federal government throughout the conflict. Neighboring Eritrea and their autocratic dictator, Isaias Afwerki, have been engaged in a bitter rivalry with Tigray and their leaders for decades since 1991, while the Amhara region and its people have argued that western Tigray is a part of the Amhara homeland.
This has made the possibility of permanent peace within the region and all of Ethiopia uncertain. Leaders from other African nations, including Kenya’s former president, Uhuru Kenyatta, have described there to be “destructive actors” inside and outside the country that could erase the peace deal. Another former president, Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, has stated that the deal was not the end but the beginning of a drawn-out peace process.
While there are plenty of reservations in regards to the long-lasting effects of the peace agreement, political leaders as well as affected civilians look forward with cautious optimism to a time of permanent peace and recovery following one of the deadliest conflicts in the region.
