Background: 

Tigray is Ethiopia’s northernmost region. Bordering Eritrea, it is home to most of the country’s estimated 7 million ethnic Tigrayans. 

In 2019, allegedly to distance the country from ethnic federalism and ethnic nationalist politics, prime minister Abiy Ahmed merged the ethnic and region-based constituent parties of the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) coalition and several opposition parties into his new Prosperity Party. The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), a politically powerful entity that had dominated Ethiopian politics for 27 years as a repressive regime through a one-party dominant system,[44] refused to join the new party. The TPLF then alleged that Abiy Ahmed became an illegitimate ruler because the general elections scheduled for 29 August 2020 were postponed to 2021 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The TPLF, led by its chairman Debretsion Gebremichael, went ahead with regional elections in Tigray in September 2020 in defiance of the federal government, which then declared the Tigray election illegal. (from wiki)

Mass extrajudicial killings of civilians took place during November and December 2020 in and around Adigrat, Hagere Selam, in the Hitsats refugee camp, and in Humera, Mai Kadra Debre Abbay, and Axum. At least 10,000 people have died, and war rape has become a “daily” occurrence, with girls as young as 8, and women as old as 72, raped, often in front of their families.

Thousands of Tigrayans, including hundreds of children, pregnant women, and senior citizens, are reportedly (eyewitnesses, satellite imaging, and expert analysis supported claims) being held in multiple concentration camps by the Eritrean and Ethiopian governments. The Tigrayans being held in these concentration camps face harsh conditions, are systematically starved, and beaten/tortured simply for being Tigrayan without any judicial process of valid legal pretext. Ethnic Tigrayans living outside Tigray in other regions of Ethiopia are widely being denied participation in society, having businesses seized, being removed from schools, universities, the military, and other institutions. 

Tigrayans are facing mass starvation, also called man-made famine, mass starvation is a process of deprivation that occurs when actors impede the capacity of targeted persons to access the means of sustaining life. 

Less than 10 percent of the required humanitarian cargo, 2.2 percent of the necessary operational cash, and 28 percent of fuel has been able to reach Tigray since 12 July. A minimum of 200,000 liters of fuel is required for humanitarian response every week. Since 12 July, only 282,000 liters (12 trucks) have reached Tigray, and none since 16 August. This is about 28 percent of the amount needed. Clearance for the movement of fuel tankers to transit to Tigray was reportedly denied by authorities in Afar region. Transport of ICT equipment, generators and office furniture are still prohibited. “Airbridge” humanitarian flights by the EU began on Sept 11 2021 to deliver much needed supplies to the Tigray region, but there have been reports that the Ethiopian gov is removing some critical supplies such as medicines, further denying the Tigrayan people appropriate relief.