Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Tigray Crisis

Mains level: Not Much

The director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), described the Tigray crisis region as the “worst humanitarian disaster on earth”.

Ethiopia has been on the brink of a civil war.
On Nov 4 2020, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed declared war on the country’s Tigray region.
The Tigray region is ruled by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).
The war was declared in response to the TPLF’s attack on a federal military base in Tigray.

The animosity between Tigrayans and Eritrea goes back to the Ethiopian-Eritrean war that occurred between 1998 and 2000.
It occurred approximately two decades ago was extremely brutal and resulted in the deaths of thousands of soldiers.
The roots of this crisis can be traced to Ethiopia’s system of government. Since 1994, Ethiopia has had a federal system in which different ethnic groups control the affairs of 10 regions.
The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) – was influential in setting up this system.
It was the leader of a four-party coalition that governed Ethiopia from 1991, when a military regime was ousted from power.
Under the coalition, Ethiopia became more prosperous and stable, but concerns were routinely raised about human rights and the level of democracy.

Eventually, discontent morphed into protest, leading to a government reshuffle that saw Mr Abiy appointed PM.
Abiy liberalized politics, set up a new party (the Prosperity Party), and removed key Tigrayan government leaders accused of corruption and repression.
Meanwhile, Abiy ended a long-standing territorial dispute with neighbouring Eritrea, earning him a Nobel Peace Prize in 2019.
These moves won Abiy popular acclaim, but caused unease among critics in Tigray.
Tigray’s leaders see Abiy’s reforms as an attempt to centralize power and destroy Ethiopia’s federal system.

Tigray and its neighbouring regions are facing starvation.
There is an absence of medical facilities, no access to their own money due to shut-down banking services, ethnic and physical violence, and raids at the hands of warring forces.
The government declared a ceasefire on humanitarian grounds but in an effort to break the TPLF in June last year, imposed a blockade on Tigray.
This made it impossible to deliver humanitarian, economic, and medical assistance to Tigrayans.

[Burning Issue] Ethiopian Crisis and the Geopolitics

Tigray Crisis in Ethiopia

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