Ethiopia’s 16-month-long civil war observed a ceasefire on Friday after separatist militants from Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region agreed to a “cessation of hostilities” proposed by Addis Ababa 24 hours earlier to allow humanitarian aid delivery to Ethiopia, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) said it was “committed to implementing a cessation of hostilities effective immediately” in a statement issued to AFP on March 25.
The TPLF’s confirmation of a ceasefire came in response to the Ethiopian federal government’s request for a “truce” in fighting between the two sides on March 24. Addis Ababa described the proposed truce as “indefinite” and said it would aim to allow international organizations the ability to deliver much-needed humanitarian aid to areas of Ethiopia affected by the nation’s internal conflict.
“To optimize the success of the humanitarian truce, the government calls upon the insurgents in Tigray to desist from all acts of further aggression and withdraw from areas they have occupied in neighboring regions,” Ethiopia’s Government Communication Service said in a press release.
Ethiopia’s ongoing civil war began in November 2020 after militants loyal to the TPLF attacked a federal Ethiopian military base in Tigray. Addis Ababa responded to the aggression by launching an air and ground offensive against the TPLF and its allied forces. The conflict has continued for nearly 17 months since then, with fighting reportedly spreading to two regions neighboring Tigray (Afar and Amhara). In addition to causing massive internal displacement within Ethiopia, the war has compelled thousands of people in the country to flee to nearby nations such as Sudan.
An Ethiopian woman scoops up portions of yellow split peas to be allocated to waiting families after it was distributed by the Relief Society of Tigray in the town of Agula, in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia, on May 8, 2021. (Ben Curtis, File/AP)
International aid organizations have alleged for several months that they are unable to deliver humanitarian aid to war-ravaged regions of Ethiopia due to incessant fighting between the TPLF and Addis Ababa. The World Food Program (WFP), which is the food assistance arm of the United Nations (UN), estimated in January that 40 percent of people in Ethiopia’s Tigray region were “suffering an extreme lack of food.” The WFP said the widespread hunger in Tigray (population 5.5 million) was due, in part, to its failure to distribute aid shipments, which it blamed on a lack of coordination by the Ethiopian federal government. Addis Ababa, for its part, claimed in the same month that attacks against its forces by the TPLF had prevented the Ethiopian federal government from facilitating aid deliveries.
“The Ethiopian government said last week that 43 trucks would deliver food and other aid to Tigray, but no trucks have arrived as fighting rages along the border between the Afar and Tigray regions,” Reuters reported on January 28.
“On Friday, the government said a convoy carrying food and medicine was forced to turn back due to fighting it blamed on the TPLF,” the news agency relayed.