Fighting in Ethiopia began in early November 2020, when forces of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) attacked a federal army base in the region, leading Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to order a military offensive against the rebels, leaving thousands of dead. UN human rights reporting indicates that serious violations occurred on all sides, which may amount to crimes against humanity and war crimes.

While more than seven million people need humanitarian aid in northern Ethiopia today, efforts to mobilize assistance in Tigray—where more than five million lack food and an estimated 400,000 now live in famine-like conditions—are made more difficult due to the inability to move cash, fuel, and supplies into the region. UN officials have made clear the certainty of risk that Ethiopia is likely to be descending into widening civil war, which would bring about a humanitarian catastrophe consuming the near future of this important country as it confronts a grave peril.

In this episode, join host Tanya Domi and guests AfP Acting CEO & President Liz Hume, Hardin Lang, Vice President of Programs and Policy at Refugees International, and Maxim Pensky, Professor and Co-Director of The Institute for Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention at Binghamton University, for a discussion on the conflict in Ethiopia, its key drivers, and the prospects for a peace process moving forward.