Conflict in Ethiopia

On 2 November 2022, almost two years to the day of the conflict starting, the Ethiopian Prime Minister and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) agreed to end the fighting. The UN Secretary General had only weeks before described the situation in Ethiopia as “spiralling out of control”.

Thousands of people have died and many more have been displaced because of the conflict, which has also left over 13 million people in the northern region of Tigray in need of food aid and lacking essential services. The UN has heard reports of potential war crimes and crimes against humanity during the conflict (discussed in section 1.2). The UK Government has welcomed the agreement and said the UK is ready to support the peace process.

Ethiopia is also experiencing the “driest conditions recorded since 1981” and the World Food Programme(WFP) estimates 10 million people across the country are facing severe hunger because of a fifth consecutive season of drought that is affecting the wider region. The WFP has issued a joint statement with UN bodies and other NGOs calling for immediate help for people in the Horn of Africa.

The International Development Committee, which published a report on the humanitarian situation in Tigray in 2021, heard from the UN and NGOs on hunger across the Horn on 8 November 2022.