After two years of a war that ended in November 2022, the issue of Western Tigray is still unresolved. Nearly a million refugees are still waiting in camps. A year and half later, the misappropriation of humanitarian aid, the shortage of agricultural fertilizer, the revolt of the Amharas militiamen, and the numerous political assassinations plunged the country again into instability. Worse, the UN commission to investigate possible war crimes has just been dropped.

On November 3, 2020, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, 2019 Nobel Peace Prize winner, declared war on the Tigray region due to the decision of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) to hold its own elections. For two years, this region of seven million inhabitants in the north of the country was cut off from the world: internet and telephone communications were suspended, journalists were banned.

On November 3, 2022 the Pretoria Peace Agreement was signed ending two years of bloody war between the Ethiopian government, an ally of Eritrea, and the Tigray Defence Forces (TDF) paramilitary army. Ethiopian and Eritrean forces are accused by the UN and several NGOs of committing numerous crimes against humanity: mass killings of civilians and widespread gang rape. According to the African Union, the conflict is the deadliest in the 21st century.

While more than a year has passed since this peace agreement, the situation is not settled: it is estimated that about one million refugees are waiting to return to their region of origin. Most are from Western Tigray, which is still occupied by the Ahmara nationalist militia, the neighbouring ethnic group that allied with the Ethiopian government during the war. Despite the peace agreement that provides for a return to the pre-war regional borders, the militia does not seem ready to pack up luggage of this historically coveted area. In April 2023, refusing to surrender weapons to their former allies, they engaged in armed conflict against the Ethiopian federal government, plunging the country again into political instability.

On June 9, 2023, a massive diversion scandal prompted USAID and the World Food Programme (WFP) to suspend food aid to Ethiopia. Similarly, the shortage of fertilizer combined with the fact that many farmers were unable to cultivate their land during the war severely affected agricultural crops. At present, while the people of Tigray are still reeling from the trauma they suffered during the war.