Ethiopian Refugee Crisis

Ethiopian Refugee Crisis

A power struggle between Ethiopia’s federal government and the northern Tigray Region’s political leaders has spawned a military conflict and humanitarian crisis that threaten to destabilize the Horn of Africa.

On November 4, 2020, Ethiopia’s federal government launched what it called a “law enforcement operation” against “rogue” leaders of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), the region’s ruling party, after TPLF fighters attacked a federal military base. TPLF leaders called the federal government’s response a war against the people of Tigray.

But tensions between the central government and TPLF have been smoldering since Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s appointment in April 2018 following a monthslong popular revolt.

He initiated a peace agreement with neighboring Eritrea and pushed for reforms such as opening trade, releasing political prisoners and unifying ethnic groups under his new Prosperity Party — measures that also sapped power from the long-dominant TPLF. Reforms that opened up political and economic space also have fueled inter-ethnic violence across the country, with more than 1.2 million people displaced by conflict in 2020 even before the Tigray crisis, the International Organization on Migration reports.