The Tigray rebels – in a statement sent to Agence France Presse – pledged a ” cessation of hostilities” with immediate effect on Friday, just hours after the Ethiopian government announced an “unlimited humanitarian truce”.
An important step in a war that began 17 months ago in northern Ethiopia and which deeply affected the population threatened by a great famine. No humanitarian convoy has been able to bring aid since last December 15 .
There are 400,000 internal refugees and according to the World Food Program 83% of the region’s 6 million inhabitants live in a situation of “About 2 million are in a situation of “extreme scarcity”.
Since November 2020, government forces and opponents have opposed each other. At that time Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, Nobel Peace Prize winner, had decided to send troops to remove the regional authorities who contested him.
In 2021 the rebels reached 200 km from the capital Addis Ababa but a counter-offensive forced them to retreat.
A long war that has as its main focus, in addition to food, that of human rights.
And on this there is the intervention of the international organization, Human Rights Watch, which on 24 March publishes a report in which it disputes an air raid on 7 January: on that occasion three bombs were dropped on a school that housed Tigrinya displaced people in the city of Dedebit “killing at least 57 civilians and injuring more than 42”. And the organization asks the Ethiopian government to account: “The Ethiopian government should carry out a timely, thorough and impartial investigation into the apparent war crime and adequately prosecute those responsible
” The use of guided bombs without evidence of any military objective indicates that it was an apparent war crime, ”said Laetitia Bader , HRW director for the Horn of Africa. Michelle Bachelet
also intervened on the issue ,United Nations Human Rights Officer. He reported that at least 304 civilians were killed and 373 wounded between the end of November 2021 and the end of February 2022 in “aerial bombardments apparently carried out by the Ethiopian army”. And the Ethiopian army, in the field, is the only reality to be in possession of aircraft and weapons such as drones.
On the day of the Human Rights report, the Ethiopian government issues the declaration of “humanitarian truce” affirming its importance in facilitating the entry of humanitarian aid into Tigray and in the hope that it “paves the way for the resolution of the conflict” in northern Ethiopia . The speeding up of sanctions
also affects this decision by Prime Minister Abiyplanned towards Ethiopia which would have a profound impact on the economy of the country of the Horn of Africa.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States “urges all parties to build on this announcement to promote a negotiated and sustainable ceasefire, including the necessary security arrangements.”
“The # EU welcomes the declaration of a humanitarian truce by the Government of # Ethiopia and the declaration on the cessation of hostilities by the authorities of Tigray,” the EU delegation in Ethiopia said on Twitter .
