UN voices grave concern as fighting spreads across northern Ethiopia

Briefing reporters in New York, UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said the UN was “particularly troubled by reports of the use of drones as well as incidents of harm to civilians,” and again urged all parties to “exercise maximum restraint and address their differences through dialogue.”

He said Secretary-General António Guterres was following developments closely and continues to engage on the issue with leaders in New York in a bid to de-escalate the growing crisis – which threatens to return the country to the state of full-scale war in the north which erupted in Tigray in 2020.

Internet outages

According to news reports, internet and call services have been largely cut across the Tigray region. Many rely on banking and mobile transactions due to lack of access to cash and bank ATMs. 

The 2020–2022 Tigray war began after political tensions between Ethiopia’s federal government and the region’s former ruling party, the TPLF, erupted into fighting between Government troops and Tigrayan militia in November 2020. 

Eritrean forces joined on the Government’s side, and the conflict spread into neighbouring regions, with the UN documenting widespread atrocities and warning of famine-like conditions before it ended two years later.

The UN welcomed the peace deal of November 2022 under African Union mediation, though it continued to flag slow progress on implementation as a risk to the peace now under threat from this week’s escalation.

UN mediation

The Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa, Guang Cong, is engaging with national and regional interlocutors and coordinating closely with partners, including the AU and regional intergovernmental body IGAD, to support a resumption of dialogue under 2022 accord, Mr. Dujarric said.

On the humanitarian front, the UN aid coordination office (OCHA) said the escalation risks adding to already substantial needs, including among civilians displaced by previous fighting in Tigray, in an area also experiencing below-average rainfall linked to the El Niño weather pattern – which promises to exacerbate already extreme weather conditions worldwide.

The UN and partners are continuing regular humanitarian operations where security allows, in Tigray as well as the northern regions of Amhara and Afar, assessing emergency needs.

Fighting chokes off aid

But insecurity is already taking its toll: this past Sunday, a drone strike in northwestern Tigray hit a truck carrying food assistance for internally displaced people.

Road closures have paused or displaced planned humanitarian movements, Mr. Dujarric said, while operations in parts of Amhara face significant constraints, including the seizure of humanitarian vehicles by armed groups. 

The UN stressed that all parties must ensure safe and unhindered access for humanitarian partners to reach those in need, wherever they are.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, also issued a strong statement on Friday saying he was deeply alarmed by the escalation and urged all parties to de-escalate tensions and avoid a return to full-scale war. 

He said reported airstrikes hit five schools in Tigray on 22 September, and a mortar strike two days later killed civilians in Kobo, Amhara.