Researchers' appeal on Ethiopia: call to end the blockade of food and medicine
It is now a year since civil war erupted in Ethiopia on 4 November 2020 [1]: between the Regional Government of Tigray and the Federal Government of Ethiopia, with its Eritrean and Amhara Regional allies. A year ago, concerned researchers warned that “warfare will not bring a viable solution, for any of the involved parties [...] particularly, Tigray is heading for famine, at levels that will rival the disaster of 1984-1985.” Our worst fears have been exceeded, and the situation is still deteriorating – faster than ever.
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Ethiopia now has the highest numbers of starving people on the planet
In early October, UN humanitarian aid [2] reached only 1% of the 5.2 million people in urgent need of emergency food in Tigray and neighbouring areas, its operations hampered by an Ethiopian government blockade. Ethiopia is also scene of the largest active war on the planet. Multiple hundreds of thousands of fighters have been mobilized on each side of the conflict, which has moved into neighbouring regions, also threatening humanitarian deliveries to displaced communities and other civilians in Afar and Amhara. This crisis should be the biggest news story on the planet. That it is not, is due to the information blackout and aggressive disinformation which form core elements of the Ethiopian government’s strategy.

As we did a year ago, we appeal to all parties to the war to agree on a cessation of hostilities in order to move to a negotiated settlement, and to pursue a political solution to political differences. But lifting the blockade on starving people cannot and should not wait for that to happen: it must happen now, it must happen first. The onus is on the Ethiopian government to allow adequate food, fuel and medicine to move into those growing areas which it does not control. We call on our own governments, and UN bodies, to do much more to achieve this. International law includes the responsibility to protect. Women, children and the elderly are dying needlessly in Ethiopia, a country that we all love. It must stop now.

Starvation
Tigray’s population remains cut off from basic humanitarian needs (no food, medicines, fuel, electricity). It is also cut off from information (no telecoms or internet), and economic means (no banking services or trade). The world has not been allowed to see what this means for the lives and livelihoods especially of women, children and older citizens, but the information is there. In January the Federal Government’s own appointees in Tigray admitted [3] that people were dying amidst an unprecedented lack of food. In April an academic study documented the Ethiopian government’s “systematic” strategy of “Starving Tigray” [4] by destroying its economy and food system. In July UNICEF reported [5] a tenfold increase in acute infant malnutrition and feared 100,000 infant deaths. Infants and the elderly starve first, and excruciating pictures of their slow deaths have gradually leaked out [6]. In August USAID confirmed [7] that less than 7% of needs were being allowed into Tigray, and that stocks would run out [8] later in the month. In September the UN reported [9] “unprecedented levels of malnutrition” in Tigray with 79% of lactating women surveyed found to be acutely malnourished.

A widening blockade
The government responded on 30 September by expelling 7 senior UN officials for “meddling,” in what the UN Secretary General stated [10] was violation of international law. The following week The Economist concluded [11] that “Ethiopia is deliberately starving its own people.” The UN’s latest report [12] states that 1.4 million children aged under 5 need emergency feeding and intervention in Tigray, and adjacent areas. Meanwhile, on 18 October the Ethiopian PM suggested [13] he might close Ethiopia to all imports of food aid: this only weeks after the FAO reported [14] that 16.8 million Ethiopians (including 5.5 million in Tigray and neighbouring areas) faced acute food insecurity or worse.  A government airstrike on Mekelle on 22 October forced the UN to abort and then cancel [15] its flights, further shutting off humanitarian operations in Northern Ethiopia.  After repeatedly calling for the withdrawal of forces and a return to the status quo ante, Tigrayan forces have moved beyond the borders of Tigray, saying they are determined to break this siege by any means necessary. The conclusion [16] is unavoidable: “If the international community doesn’t bring aid to end famine in Tigray, Ethiopia and the whole Horn of Africa will face a widening war.” Ending a blockade which is starving civilians is also the key to peace.
War
The war has gone through several phases. A year ago the Ethiopian government promised a short “law and order” operation and within weeks celebrated its “completion” [17]. Between November 2020 and June 2021, however, fighting continued within Tigray. Horrific human rights abuses were perpetrated against the population of Tigray by Ethiopian and Eritrean troops, Amhara Regional State special forces, and irregular militia groups from Amhara: repeated mass executions [18] of civilians; a campaign of rape [19] of unknown thousands of Tigrayan women; and ethnic cleansing [20] of hundreds of thousands from the west of Tigray. By April, 1900 victims of 20 massacres had been reported [21]: by October, 3055 named victims of more than 250 massacres had been documented [22], in what is still believed to be only the tip of the iceberg. In early July the military situation shifted, and forces of the Tigray Government regained control of most of central and eastern Tigray (but not of large areas of Western Tigray, or those areas on the northern border where Eritrean troops remain entrenched). In a second phase of the war, Tigrayan forces moved into areas of Wag Himra, Wollo and Afar, and the area across which the Ethiopian government cut supplies and services to civilians grew. By October, it was reported [23] that food and medicine had also run out in Lalibella, as NGOs were unable to restock here either. The UN confirmed [24] that the humanitarian situation in Amhara and Afar was “also deteriorating” with “hundreds of thousands of people in both regions” beyond the reach of humanitarian support, and many others displaced.
Total mobilisation
In July the Ethiopian PM vowed to eradicate the forces of Tigray’s ruling party, describing them [25] as “weeds” and “cancer.” In September, his social affairs advisor called for their “eradication for all time,” in a speech which was widely condemned [26] outside Ethiopia. In October, fighting entered a third phase with the launch of a government offensive [27] on all fronts, drawing on mass mobilization. The reported capture of Dessie and Kombolcha by Tigrayan forces in late October drew another call [28] for full popular mobilisation from the Federal Government. Meanwhile, social media has seen an explosion of hate speech and calls for illegal action against neighbours and civilians as well as combatants, including on the part of activists and politicians.
Disinformation
For a year, every episode of this conflict that has been outside the official Ethiopian Government narrative has been subject to systematic denials, accusations of deception and manipulation – and worse. Week after week, all information reported by the international media, international organisations and human rights NGOs has been denounced as a conspiracy, and individuals have been threatened. When these same organisations sometimes corroborated Government sources, it has been brandished as absolute proof. This tactic of cover-up, denial and conspiracy-theory reinforces pro-government supporters' feeling that they are the “real victims,” that they are unfairly misunderstood and unheard. These denials may have worked in the short term. In the general confusion of information that is impossible to verify immediately, this tactic can be effective. Looking at the longer term, the perspective is different. The facts set out above, summarising a year of conflict, were all questioned and decried before they were later established and acknowledged, including in some cases by Ethiopian Government officials. Our commitment as researchers is not to take sides with one group or another, but to take sides with the reality of the facts on the ground, and to expose this where there are distortions of reality.
Appeal
A month ago the recent head of UN Relief operations noted [29] that the situation in Ethiopia “threatens the stability of the whole country, but the immediate priority must be averting imminent catastrophe in Tigray.” We agree. As we did a year ago, we appeal to all parties to the war to agree on a cessation of hostilities in order to move to a negotiated settlement, and to pursue a political solution to political differences. But lifting the blockade on starving people cannot and should not wait for that to happen: it must happen now, it must happen first. The onus is on the Ethiopian government to allow adequate food, fuel and medicine to move into those growing areas which it does not control. We note with horror that a semi-official narrative has been allowed to develop in Ethiopia which opposes humanitarian intervention because it could help support an “enemy.” Whatever the political objectives which some may believe could be served by a medieval strategy of siege warfare, we reiterate: the deliberate starvation of civilians during war cannot be understood as anything other than a war crime under international humanitarian law.

We hope that Ethiopians and all the political forces that represent them will be able to return to the conditions of a dialogue necessary to resolve whatever issues were at the origin of the war. But in the immediate term it is the humanitarian peril that must be addressed: it is time to stop the siege.  We call on our own governments, and UN bodies, to do much more to achieve this. International law includes the responsibility to protect. This responsibility also means that international actors have the duty to assist victims of gross human rights violations in other countries, including where hunger is used as a weapon. Women, children and the elderly are dying needlessly in Ethiopia, a country that we all love. It must stop now.  

Signatories as at 4 November 2021 (in alphabetical order of primary name)
Dr Stéphane Ancel, Researcher, CNRS, Paris, France

Dr Sofie Annys, Researcher, Institute for Agriculture Fisheries and Food Research, ILVO, and member, Department of Geography University of Ghent, Belgium

Dr Alula Tesfay Asfha, Post-Doctoral Special Researcher, World Heritage Studies Department, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan

Professor Dr Keita Aoshima, Associate Professor at Otemon Gakuin University, Osaka, Japan

Dr David Ambrosetti, researcher, CNRS, Bordeaux, France

Francesca Baldwin, Doctoral Researcher, University of Reading, UK

Dr Trygve Berg, retired Associate Professor, Department of International Environment and Development Studies (Noragric), Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU), Norway

David Berga, Doctoral Researcher, Anthropologist, Barcelona, Catalonia

Professor Dr Paolo Billi, retired Full Professor, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Ferrara, Italy

Dr Ninon Blond, Assistant Professor of Geography, École normale supérieure de Lyon, France

Professor Dr Frans Bongers, Professor Tropical Forest Ecology, Environmental Sciences Group, Wageningen University & Research, The Netherlands

Dr David Brenner, Lecturer in Global Insecurities, International Relations, University of Sussex, UK

Prof. Dr. Alessandro Bausi, University Professor, Hamburg University, Germany

Professor Deborah Fahy Bryceson, Honorary Fellow, Centre of African Studies, University of Edinburgh, UK

Matt Bryden, Strategic Advisor, Nairobi, Kenya

Dr Maria Bulakh, researcher, Associate Professor HSE University, Moscow, Russia

Dr Chekol Kidane Negassie, independent development consultant, Manchester, UK

Dr Giulio Castelli, Research Fellow, Food, Agriculture and Environment, Universita degli Studi di Firenze, Italy

Dr André Crismer, medical doctor, Liege, Belgium

Jordi Cuixart i Navarro, cultural activist, Barcelona, Catalonia

Skip Dahlgren, Retired Archaeologist and Writer, North Little Rock, Arkansas, USA

Professor Catherine D’Andrea, Simon Fraser University, Canada

Professor Dr ir. Jozef (Seppe) Deckers, emeritus Full Professor, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, KU Leuven, Belgium

Catherine Dom, researcher and consultant, Brussels, Belgium

Dr Elleni Centime Zeleke, Assistant Professor, Department of African Studies, Columbia University, USA.

Professor Haggai Erlich, Emeritus Professor in the Faculty of Humanities, Tel Aviv University, Israel

Dr Ezana Haddis Weldeghebrael, Research Associate, African Cities Research Centre, University of Manchester, UK

Dr Emanuele Fantini, Senior Lecturer/Researcher, IHE Delft Institute for Water Education, The Netherlands

Professor Fetien Abay Abera, Professor of Plant Breeding/Seed Science, Former Acting President of Mekelle University, Ethiopia

Dr Eloi Ficquet, Assistant Professor, African Studies, Interdisciplinary Religious Studies, École des hautes études en sciences sociales, EHESS, Paris, France

Hugues Fontaine, photographer and author, Paris, France

Dr Michela Gaudiello, adjunct, Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology, Warsaw University, Poland

Professor Michael Gervers, Professor of History, University of Toronto, Canada

Guesh Solomon, PhD student, Hiob Ludolf Centre for Ethiopian and Eritrean Studies, Hamburg, Germany

Gebremeskel Kassa Taffere, Former lecturer of tourism and archaeology at Aksum University, Tigray Regional State Interim Administration Chief of Staff (former), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Habtom Kahsay Gidey, Research Associate (UniBw), Technical University of Munich, Germany

Haftamu Gebreslassie, Postgraduate Student, University of Brescia, Italy

Dr Hagos Abrha Abay, Researcher, Hamburg University, Germany

Professor Haile Debas MD, Emeritus Professor of Surgery, former Dean of the School of Medicine and Vice Chancellor for Medical Affairs, University of California San Francisco, USA

Dr Monica Hanna, Associate Professor, Dean of the College of Archaeology and Cultural Heritage, Arab Academy for Science and Technology, Aswan, Egypt

Professor Laura Hammond, Professor of Development Studies, School of Oriental and African Studies, SOAS, London UK

Dr Jörg Haustein, Lecturer in World Christianities, University of Cambridge, UK

Dr Wolfgang Heinrich, Researcher and Consultant, Bad Herrenalb, Germany

Rev. Eberhard Hitzler, former head of the Lutheran World Federation Department for World Service, Bamberg, Germany

Dr Markus Hoehne, Social Anthropologist, University of Leipzig, Germany

Jonas Berhe, Trades Union Organiser and Activist, Germany

Bev Jones, independent development consultant, Oxford, UK

Professor Mukesh Kapila, Emeritus Professor, Global Health and Humanitarian Affairs, University of Manchester, UK

Dr Gunnar Köhlin, Associate Professor and Director, Environment for Development Initiative, University of Gothenburg, Sweden

Dr Marie-Luise Kreuter, Historian, Researcher, Landau in der Pfalz, Germany

Kawase Itsushi, PhD, Associate Professor, National Ethnographic Museum of Japan, Osaka, Japan

Professor Dr Sil Lanckriet, EthioTrees Association and Guest Professor, Ghent University, Belgium

Dr Sonia Le Gouriellec, Associate Professor of Political Science, Catholic University of Lille, France

René Lefort, independent researcher, Paris, France

Dr Jörg Lehmann, Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, Tübingen, Germany

Dr Lutgart Lenaerts, Researcher, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Norway

Dr Stephen Lister, development consultant, Oxford, UK

Dr Roy Love, associate staff, University of York, UK

Professor Terrence Lyons, Professor of Conflict Resolution, George Mason University, USA

Professor Tony Magaña MD, Chief of Neurosurgery and Neuroscience, Mekelle University, Tigray, Ethiopia

Dr Momoka Maki, Associate Professor, Global Studies, Sophia University, Japan

Andreu Martínez d'Alòs-Moner, Researcher at INCIPIT CSIC, Santiago, Spain

Professor Volker Matthies, retired Professor, University of Hamburg, Germany

Mehret Haile, Food and Nutrition scientist, Cologne, Germany

Dr Thera Mjaaland, social anthropologist, Norway, and Adjunct Professor at the Institute of Environment, Gender and Development Studies, Mekelle University, Ethiopia

Dr Fiona Meehan, independent researcher, Ireland

Tobias Mörike, curator, Erfurt University, Germany

Jason Mosley, Research Associate, African Studies Centre, Oxford University, UK

Moritz Müller, Doctoral Researcher, Anthropologist, Goethe-University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

Professor Mulugeta Gebregziabher, Professor of Biostatistics, Vice Chair of the Department of Public Health Sciences, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, USA

Dr Mussie Tesfagiorgis, Department of History, University of Winnipeg / RCIC, Canada

Rosa Anna Mancini, MSC Design for Development in Global South (Milan),  previous lecturer in Mekelle University, Italy

Prof. Riichi Miyake, Professor, Tokyo, Japan

Professor Peter Nadig, Full Professor of Ancient History, University of Mekelle, Tigray, Ethiopia, and Free University, Berlin, Germany

Dr Denis Nosnitsin, Research Fellow, Asia-Africa Institute, Hamburg University, Germany

Professor Dr Jan Nyssen, Full Professor, Department of Geography, Ghent University, Belgium

Dr Rumi Okazaki, Associate Professor, Tokyo, Japan

Dr Sue Onslow, Visiting Senior Research Fellow, Kings College, London, UK

Dr Marit Østebø, Assistant Professor, University of Florida, USA

Professor Terje Østebø, Chair, Department of Religion, Professor, Department of Religion & Center for African Studies, University of Florida, USA

Philippe Pellet, Research Assistant, Research Institute on Religion and Society, Budapest, Hungary

Dr Wolfgang Pittroff, development specialist, Germany, Professor and former Dean, Mekelle University, Tigray, Ethiopia

Martin Plaut, Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London, UK

Reiner Prass, Historian, Erfurt, Germany

Dr Gerard Prunier, Senior Researcher, CNRS, Paris, France

Dr Rashid Abdi, independent researcher, Kenya

Dr Angela Raven-Roberts, Gender Studies, Lady Margaret Hall, Research Affiliate, Centre for Comparative and International Education, Oxford University, UK

Professor Richard Reid, Professor of African History, Oxford University, UK

Dolors Sabater Puig, Diputada del Parlament de Catalunya, Badalona, Catalonia

Dr Safia Aidid, Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Toronto, Canada

Dr Daniele Salvoldi, Adjunct Assistant Professor, American University, Cairo, Egypt

Samuel Kidane Haile, Lecturer, Aksum University, Tigray, Ethiopia

Dr Miho Sato, Assistant Professor, School of Tropical Medicine and Global Health, Nagasaki University, Japan

Professor Dr Pino Schirripa, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy

Robin Schoemaker, Independent political scientist, The Hague, The Netherlands

Professor Dr Iris Schröder, Professor of Global History, Erfurt University, Germany

Dr Valeria Semenova, art historian, Department of Asian and African Studies, University of St Petersburg, Russia

Dr Divya Shrivastava, Associate Dean & Associate Professor, School of Performing Arts, NMIMS University, New Delhi, India

Rolf P Schwiedrzik-Kreuter, Researcher, Sociologist and Consultant, Landau in der Pfalz, Germany

Dr Wolbert Smidt, Prof. (MU), Senior Researcher, University of Jena, Germany, and Adjunct Professor, Mekelle University, Ethiopia

Dr Lahra Smith, Associate Professor, Georgetown University, Washington DC, USA

Klara Smits, Doctoral researcher, Tilburg, The Netherlands

Dr Edward GJ Stephenson, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Durham University, UK

Dr Federica Sulas, Senior Research Associate, McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, UK

Dr habil. István Tarrósy, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science and International Studies, Africa Research Centre, University of Pécs, Hungary

Marie Taubert, Gotha-Adua city partnership, Gotha, Germany

Professor Dr Alexander Thumfart, Social Scientist, University of Erfurt, Germany

Dr Charlotte Touati, independant researcher, Geneva, Switzerland

Dr Till Trojer, Post-Doc Researcher, London, UK

Professor Dr Kjetil Tronvoll, Full Professor, Peace and Conflict Studies, Oslo New University College, Oslo, Norway and Adjunct Professor, College of Law and Governance, Mekelle University, Ethiopia

Prof. Dr. Rainer Tetzlaff, em. Professor of Political Science, Hamburg University, Germany

Professor Dr. Mirjam van Reisen, International Relations, Innovation and Care, Tilburg University, Tilburg, NL

Dr Sarah Vaughan, independent researcher, Edinburgh, UK

Dr Sufian Weise, trainer, Berlin, Germany

Dr Welderufael B Tesfay, Senior researcher in information privacy/security at the Chair of Mobile Business & Multilateral Security, Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

Dr Jacob Wiebel, Assistant Professor of History, Durham University, UK

Woldegiorgis Ghebrehiwot, Researcher and Journalist, Media Manager, Nairobi, Kenya, and former Lecturer in Journalism, Mekelle University, Tigray, Ethiopia

Professor Yacob Mulugetta, Professor of Energy and Development Policy, University College London, UK

Professor Zeray Alemseged, Donald N. Pritzker Professor, University of Chicago, USA

References
1. https://martinplaut.com/2021/11/03/who-triggered-the-tigray-war-on-3-november-2020/
2. https://reports.unocha.org/en/country/ethiopia
3. https://addisstandard.com/news-tigray-region-interim-admin-official-admits-death-of-13-due-to-lack-of-food-says-crisis-scale-unprecedented-in-regions-history/
4. https://sites.tufts.edu/wpf/starving-tigray/
5. https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/07/1096762
6. https://leads.ap.org/best-of-the-week/exclusive-on-life-under-siege-in-tigray
7. https://news.yahoo.com/usaid-chief-urges-tigray-rebels-141157163.html
8. https://www.axios.com/food-aid-tigray-ethiopia-usaid-un-famine-81351874-36d2-4f34-bf3d-92f77385fa1e.html
9. https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20211001-un-reports-unprecedented-malnutrition-in-tigray
10. https://www.un.org/press/en/2021/sc14657.doc.htm
11. https://www.economist.com/leaders/2021/10/09/ethiopia-is-deliberately-starving-its-own-citizens?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIza6njNrn8wIVs2LmCh0chgDtEAAYAiAAEgJ2mfD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
12. https://reports.unocha.org/en/country/ethiopia/card/2UJldiU45D/
13. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/climate-and-people/ethiopian-pm-threatens-stop-food-aid-entering-country/
14. https://www.fao.org/3/cb6054en/cb6054en.pdf
15. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/23/ethiopian-government-airstrike-on-tigray-forces-un-to-abort-flight-in-midair
16. https://sites.tufts.edu/reinventingpeace/2021/10/04/feast-and-famine-in-ethiopia/
17. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ethiopia-conflict-idUSKBN28809E
18. https://www.amnesty.org.uk/press-releases/ethiopia-eritrean-troops-massacred-hundreds-tigray-civilians-new-evidence
19. https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2021/08/ethiopia-troops-and-militia-rape-abduct-women-and-girls-in-tigray-conflict-new-report/
20. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/26/world/middleeast/ethiopia-tigray-ethnic-cleansing.html
21. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/apr/02/ethiopia-1900-people-killed-in-massacres-in-tigray-identified
22. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/349824181_Tigray_Atlas_of_the_humanitarian_situation
23. https://twitter.com/ZekuZelalem/status/1453282557676634113?s=20
24. https://reports.unocha.org/en/country/ethiopia/
25. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/abiys-pledge-to-crush-weeds-of-tigray-raises-fears-of-genocide-in-ethiopia-sx0xkqb2v
26. https://english.alarabiya.net/News/world/2021/09/20/US-blasts-rhetoric-by-ally-of-Ethiopia-PM-who-compared-Tigrayans-to-the-devil
27. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-58869970
28. https://addisstandard.com/update-pm-abiy-calls-on-our-people-to-temporarily-hold-occasional-affairs-organize-march-via-legal-manner-toprevent-reverse-bury-terrorist-tplf/
29. https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/internationaldevelopment/2021/10/08/how-to-destroy-a-country-does-ethiopia-have-a-future/
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