An Air Strike on a northwest region of Tigray, Ethiopia, killed 56 people and wounded dozens as the two aid workers have told Reuters. According to them, most of the victims were women and children.
It is quite ambiguous how and why a school was hit, as previously the Ethiopian government has denied targeting civilians.
What has triggered this conflict between the government and the forces of northern Tigray region?
The conflict has been going on since November 2020, leaving thousands of people either dead or displaced, living in famine like conditions.
Back in 1994, Ethiopia has had a federal system in which different ethnic groups of the region had some prominent say. Now a point to remember here is, that the Tigray People’s Liberation Front has played a conventional role in setting up this system.
Mr. Abiy, after being the prime minister, have brought a few reforms like political liberalization, setting up a new party, removing the key Tigrayan leaders who were accused of corruption and ending a long- standing territorial dispute with Eritrea.
This helped him earning the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019 but at the same time, these reasons were enough for the critics in Tigray.
Later on, due to the outbreak of COVID-19 the central government had to postpone the national election. Therefore, when Tigray defied the government to hold regional elections, center denied.
The rift grew and the conflict broke out in November 2020 when the prime minister ordered the military offensive against the rebel of Tigray as a response to the attack on military base.
Furthermore, the government has announced to release some influential figures of the opposition. As the prime minster aims to achieve national reconciliation and “unity”.
Dire Situation
400,000 people are living in famine like conditions, basic medication is not accessible to 80% of the people and there is no clear record to show how many people have been displaced because of the conflict and air strikes.
Time and again, the federal government has been accused of disrupting the supply of aid, which it denies. The situation becomes even more grave when the evidences of unlawful killing, sexual violence and torture on both the sides, came into being.
Ethiopia is a multi-ethnic nation, the current crisis might fuel other concerns as well, which will end into a horrendous war like situation. The UN has cautioned that the region is in utmost and immediate need of humanitarian aid and medical supplies.
“The shortage of fuel and cash, as well as a communication blackout, are significantly hindering the resumption and preventing the scale-up of humanitarian response” , the UN says.