Dear reader,

This 58th digest holds a collection of news items that we received from Tigray (section 1), followed by a startling report on the dire food situation (section 2). Further we pay attention to the military conflict in the Amhara Region, including first-hand information (section 3) and once more we demand justice for war crime victims (section 4). There is a notice for the première of a new video “Tigray cultural heritage under siege” (section 5), as well as a list of other media pieces that, by sheer coincidence, are all connected to Eritrea (section 6).

We take this chance to wish all Tigrayan women a nice Ashenda holiday despite the sorrows! While Ashenda celebrations in villages are more socially genuine and less standardized, the Mekelle Ashenda festival is an eye-catcher (see this video by Tewodros Hailemichael and Thera Mjaaland). For the first time since 2019, after the emergence of COVID-19 and especially after the war, Ashenda will be celebrated in Mekelle today, 22 August.

Mid-August is when the ashenda flowers bloom in Tigray (and also in the Tigray Garden in Belgium)

  1. News from the ground in Tigray

In Mekelle University (MU) and the three other universities in Tigray, BSc, MSc and PhD study programs have resumed. The admitted students are Tigrayan students who were studying in the universities in Tigray but were forced to stop their study due to the war, and others who had beenstudying in universities outside Tigray but had no opportunity to join their previous universities. We understand also that staff rooted in other regions of Ethiopia have returned back to MU in order to take up their teaching activities. Yet, coping up with three years of academic standstill will be an enormous task for the four universities in Tigray.

Reversely, the poor salary payment conditions and acute shortage of medical equipment have pushed numerous medical doctors to leave the Ayder hospital and relocate to Addis Ababa or abroad. Also in Adigrat, around 80 medical doctors have left the town. A quantitative analysis of the brain drain induced by the Tigray war, the blockade, as well as the subsequent crisis, is required.

On the positive side, we learnt that the rural road from Hagere Selam to tabiya Mika’el Abiy has been overhauled and even extended down to theInda Abba Hadera monastery, 20 km in total. Also in the town of Hagere Selam, 11 km of roads were renovated, as a joint effort by TDF, the municipality and the Dogu’a Tembien woreda. This is not a stand-alone example but it indicates some revival taking place in Tigray. (Photo report of the full road trip mid-August is available upon request)

“Normalcy” has however not at all returned to Tigray, and the impressive recent eye-witness report by Mulugeta Gebrehiwot (published by Tufts University, USA) is a must for anyone who wants to know the real living conditions in Tigray: Part One, and Part Two.

Further reading:

  1. The WFP aid stoppage may have a more detrimental effect in Tigray than the siege a year earlier

Specifically in the Central and Southeastern zones, more Tigrayan households are in the worst stage of food insecurity in June 2023 than they were a year earlier, according to the first significant evaluation completed since the cessation of food aid. More than one in ten children under the age of two were found to be suffering from severe acute malnutrition, and the gross acute malnutrition rate for children under the age of five was 38%, exceeding the threshold for famine, according to a study conducted by researchers at the Tigray Health Research Institute, Mekelle University and Adigrat University. Data from the analysis indicate that the effect of the siege effect on Tigray’s food security in June 2022 was not as severe as the effect of aid suspension in June 2023. Read the highlights of the report, summarized by Duke Burbridge, and published by Tghat.com

Early August, news were made that the WFP had cautiously began distributing food aid in Tigray. The Commissioner of Tigray’s Disaster Risk Management Commission confirmed the resumption of certain relief activities in select sections of the region, but cautioned that this should not be interpreted as the restoration of stalled food aid; rather, it is the resumption of the safety net program (PSNP). The distinction is that humanitarian aid imposes no requirements on recipients, whereas safety net programs require people to engage in particular public labor activities, for which many of the people who need food aid are simply too weak.

An independent source confirmed, indeed, that WFP does not yet deliver any humanitarian food aid. The small distribution that occurred, was a pilot resumption of PSNP. Humanitarian distributions have not started at all. We learnt in addition that Tigray’s share of PSNP for the war years will not be available retroactively.

Further readings on the humanitarian situation in Tigray

  1. Military conflict and curfew in Amhara Region

An armed conflict erupted between the Ethiopian army and the Fano militias in Amhara region. See some media reports:

I reached out to some of our alumni living in the Amhara region. One of them writes: “In Bahir Dar and other areas of the Amhara region, there has been fighting that resulted in numerous fatalities. My family is good, and my neighborhood is rather secure. After roughly a week of being under lockdown due to the violence, Bahir Dar has been rather stable as of August 11, and we are able to walk around the city. Due to the war, there has been no internet access in the Amhara region since the final week of July.”

Another alumnus, and previous long-standing staff of Mekelle University, has become an MP for the Amhara region. Back in 2020, he was a strong advocate of what he called a ‘police operation against TPLF’. Now that war turns to Amhara region, he made this statement in the Ethiopian parliament on 8 August: “Instead of merely implementing curfews, true resolution requires actively engaging in our communities to promote peace. The problem’s solution hinges on discussions, apologies, and deliberate, thoughtful consideration. Fano and ENDF collaborated alongside the Amhara people and other nations during challenging times. I suggest that the government redirects its efforts towards fostering peace through regional support and alternative strategies”.

The repercussions of war and state of emergency on civilian populations are properly expressed in this – Tigray has also experienced these repercussions, and to a great extent. Yet, the MP goes on to say that he views the war that Abiy and Fano waged against Tigray favorably (“…during challenging times”), calling in the earmarked enemy as a red herring.

Other Ethiopian politicians, such as Eskinder Nega, an ardent supporter of the nazi Holocaust, call for Fano to increase its military presence throughout Ethiopia.

We can draw a few take-home messages from the foregoing:

  • It is better to pursue dialogue than war, as we have advocated since the Tigray war began in 2020; remarkably, colleagues from the Amhara region vigorously resisted our call for peace at the time;
  • If the Amhara region and its paramilitary force gave up their claims to and presence in parts of the Tigray, Benishangul-Gumuz, and Oromia regions, many of Ethiopia’s problems may be resolved;
  • Abiy Ahmed’s Nobel Prize for Peace has still not been rescinded; and
  • All around Ethiopia, independent inquiries into war crimes are required. The ICHREE’s mandate ought to be extended.

Further readings on the armed conflict in Amhara region, in French, in Dutch and in Italian:

  1. Justice for the victims of war crimes

One of our friends writes: “I travelled to Tigray for a couple of days to see my brothers and sisters. I returned with a mixed feeling. I am relieved that all my close family members are alive and safe, and it was really great to see the resilience of the population as a whole, but at the same time it is really devastating to learn closely about the extent and degree of the casualties and the devastation.”

Civil Society Organisations from Tigray, as well as the Commission of Inquiry on Tigray Genocide expressed their concerns about the possible termination of the UN Independent Commission of Human Rights Experts for Ethiopia (ICHREE), as demanded by the Ethiopian government. The insist on the extension of the mandate as the atrocities in Tigray have not been thoroughly investigated and the government is still committing such crimes all over the country.

LAST MINUTE: even after fleeing the country, Ethiopians are targeted by warfare

  1. Tigray cultural heritage under siege: new video

A message from www.tigrayatwar.org : Religious and cultural heritage, including ancient churches and monasteries, define every part of people’s life in Tigray. Integral to this heritage are Tigrayan priests and monks, considered God’s representatives on earth. They have been responsible for creating and protecting this precious historical, religious, and cultural heritage for hundreds of years. Churches, monasteries, manuscripts, and all associated precious heritage items have been ransacked and destroyed across the state of Tigray. There has also been a concerted attack on priesthood. For Tigrayans, this campaign of genocide is simply destroying an intrinsic aspect of their physical and spiritual lives, with devastating psychological effects. 

A new video about the destruction of Tigray’s cultural heritage will be premiered on 2 September at 15:00 CET.

  1. Other media articles

Professor Jan Nyssen, Ghent University