Alarm Bells Ring as Ethiopia‘s Tigray Truce Fails to Protect Civilians
MEKELLE, Tigray – Despite a truce signed in November 2022, human rights abuses continue in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, raising fears of renewed conflict and escalating atrocities, according to reports from Human Rights Watch, doctors Without Borders, and other organizations. The two-year war in Tigray, which began in November 2020, claimed the lives of several hundred thousand people, displaced millions, and destroyed critical infrastructure.
The Ethiopian government imposed a crippling siege on Tigray during the conflict, while local officials and Amhara militias in Western Tigray carried out an ethnic cleansing campaign against the Tigrayan population that amounted to crimes against humanity.
The African Union brokered the truce, but its monitoring mechanism has largely failed to address ongoing human rights abuses. As a result,warring parties – including non-signatories to the agreement – have continued to abuse civilians in violation of pledges to protect them.
Neither Ethiopia nor Eritrea have credibly prosecuted those responsible for the atrocities. In 2023, the United Nations, under pressure from ethiopian authorities, failed to renew an international inquiry into the situation, opting instead for a domestic process that has stalled.
Key guarantors of the truce – the African Union, Kenya, South Africa, and the United States – and Ethiopia’s partners are now urged to mobilize to prevent further abuses. Human Rights Watch calls for the AU to publicly report on truce violations, including those against civilians. The risk of renewed cycles of atrocities remains high.
