More than half a million lives were  lost by the time the peace agreement was signed between the Ethiopian federal government and representatives of the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) on November 2.  

At least 13 million people in the country are in need of aid, according to the United Nations, with at least five million in Tigray suffering from a lack of food, medicine and basic resources.  

This week, after almost two years disconnected from the rest of the world, Mekele, the capital of the Tigray region, was reconnected to the national power grid.  

The state-affiliated Fana Broadcasting reported Tuesday that maintenance to a transmission line has returned services like electricity and telecommunications services to some parts of Tigray, where more than five million people have gone without access to basic phone, internet and banking services since the conflict ignited in November 2020.

Other parts of Tigray, like the towns of Axum and Shire, are still reported to be without power.  The internet blackout that has isolated Tigray during the two-year civil conflict is considered to be “the world’s longest uninterrupted shutdown,” according to the rights group Access Now.

An estimated 13 million people have been living on the brink of starvation in the mountainous north since the conflict exploded, entrapping civilians in the Tigray, Amhara and Afar regions in the violent political conflict that has also exacerbated ethnic tensions in the country.  

Millions were caught in the crossfire of the bloody and complicated war as the fighting expanded to engage multiple parties in fighting.

At least 65 percent of Tigray forces have been demobilized and withdrawn from the frontline areas, Tigray’s top military commander Tadesse Woreda told reporters last week. 

Yet the timeline of full demobilization is unclear, as Tigray’s leadership says it can only occur once the Eritrean military presence is gone from the region.In early December, Olusegun Obasanjo, the African Union mediator who helped broker the peace deal, called on all “foreign troops” to leave Tigray. Eritrea was not a party to the peace deal.

Eritrean troops are reported by witnesses and the Associated Press this week to still be on the ground in the northern region.

During the height of the conflict, Eritrean troops, brought in by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government, were accused of heinous atrocities on the civilian population.

In fact, all parties that were engaged in the conflict have been accused of perpetrating what could amount to serious crimes against humanity  and some that could be considered war crimes.The lack of access for journalists and international observers to Tigray over the last two years has made witness account confirmation and attribution of potential war crimes to any certain party a nearly impossible task.

The UN and international groups have identified potential crimes that span everything from the use of child soldiers, destruction of cultural heritage sites, starvation as a weapon of war, indiscriminate attacks and sexual violence as a weapon of war.  

The cessation of fighting and reinstatement of telecommunications and humanitarian services to the regions of Tigray, Afar and Amhara have been essential first steps to beginning the process of healing.

Since the November 2 peace agreement was signed by Redwan Hussien on behalf of the Ethiopian government and Getachew Reda representing the TPLF, and mediated by the African Union with sideline support from the UN and United States, international humanitarian aid has been trickling into the north.

Yet, the Director-General  of the UN’s World Health Organization, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, a Tigrayan himself, says it is not happening quickly enough.

“The people in Tigray are desperate. They’ve been, years now, without access to proper healthcare, without access to proper nutrition and they need our help now. Not next week, not next month, they need it now.” Ghebreyesus says his team does not see evidence of unfettered access, and “that needs to change.”

The peace deal  includes a permanent cessation of hostilities, disarmament of Tigrayan fighters, restoration of federal government authority to the region, as well as unfettered humanitarian access to Tigray.

Dr. Ghebreyesus says his team does not see evidence of unfettered humanitarian access, and “that needs to change.”

Ghebreyesus, who has been a vocal advocate for people across the globe suffering amidst war and conflict, urges the world’s leaders to remember that civilians must never be cut off from food and medicine during conflicts and wars, and that humanitarian aid should never be a condition “attached with the political and military dialog.”

Aid workers say  they have only been able to reach 54 of the 104 camps in Tigray for displaced Ethiopians, according a report by the Tigray Emergency Coordination Center. 

And only three percent of health organizations are fully operating in the region, the World Health Organization says.

Ethiopian federal government representatives and Tigray regional leaders met with representatives from the African Union in the Tigrayan town of Shire  last week on Wednesday.  The committee is responsible for creating a blueprint for further disarmament, but their work, according to the government, has been “delayed due to technical factors.”

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