A humanitarian food convoy, the first since the recent escalation of hostilities, reached Ethiopia’s Tigray region on Thursday. The convoy delivered critical nutritional supplies amid continued hostilities driving new displacement and humanitarian needs. Four World Food Programme (WFP) trucks carrying 90 metric tons of nutritional supplies for the treatment of acute malnutrition arrived in Mekelle, the capital of Tigray.
On Friday, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) announced that the shipment, which traveled through the Semera-Abala corridor in the neighboring Afar region, represented a significant logistical milestone in an area where access had been severely restricted by renewed fighting.
A fragile humanitarian breakthrough in Tigray
The arrival of the supplies coincides with a broader resumption of aid activities, albeit fragile. Humanitarian personnel who were previously stranded in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, and the town of Semera, have reached Mekelle to reinforce life-saving operations.
Furthermore, aid agencies confirmed that food distribution resumed this week and that cash assistance via electronic transfers has restarted following the restoration of banking services in the area.
Despite these modest yet encouraging developments, humanitarian organizations warn that the crisis continues to outpace the current response. Efforts are underway to preposition additional supplies to strengthen the relief effort and replenish stocks lost to looting during the recent surge in violence.
However, significant challenges remain. Insecurity along the front lines of the conflict, the risk of looting, cash shortages, and continued uncertainty over access are all hindering ongoing relief efforts. While some aid is moving, aid officials caution that the situation remains volatile. Continued hostilities are driving new waves of displacement and threatening to further disrupt essential health services in northern Ethiopia, particularly in Tigray.
The UN and its humanitarian partners are monitoring the situation and humanitarian access issues in the north. Despite limited funding and fuel availability, among other constraints, they are working to scale up life-saving assistance wherever access permits.
“Our humanitarian colleagues stress that additional supplies and emergency relief assistance are urgently needed to respond to the growing humanitarian needs of communities affected by conflict,“ Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for UN Secretary-General António Guterres, told journalists on Friday.
“Once again, we stress the need to protect civilians and ensure continued access to critical assistance, including functioning health facilities.”
Military escalation and regional fallout
On September 22, long-standing tensions between the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) and the Ethiopian federal government, led by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, escalated into a large-scale military confrontation. It marked a significant departure from sporadic clashes and airstrikes, leading to widespread combat in northern Ethiopia, including the regions of Tigray, Afar, and Amhara.
The renewed hostilities pit federal forces—the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF)—and their allies against the TPLF’s Tigray Defense Force (TDF), as well as other regional armed groups. These groups include the Amhara Fano militia and the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA), which have formed a seven-member alliance to topple the federal government. Heavy fighting involving drone strikes, mortar strikes, and artillery fire has been reported in various locations.
Clashes and airstrikes are currently reportedly ongoing in Tigray and northern Amhara. Federal forces and their allies have reportedly captured several towns, including Mekelle. Meanwhile, geopolitical tensions are mounting amid the severing of diplomatic ties between Eritrea and Ethiopia.
Observers warn of the potential for a regional conflict that could destabilize the entire Horn of Africa. Eritrean troops have reportedly crossed into neighboring Tigray. During the two-year civil war that ended in 2022, Eritrea was a key ally of the Ethiopian federal government, fighting alongside ENDF troops against the TDF.
The renewed conflict is exacerbating the already dire humanitarian situation in northern Ethiopia. Disruptions to essential services and supply routes—including access to healthcare, the internet, communication services, air travel, and banking—are causing additional suffering for the civilian population.
Echoes of a devastating prior war
The sudden escalation of violence has sent shockwaves through Tigray's population, which is still recovering from the brutal civil war that ended just four years ago. The previous conflict, rooted in a power struggle between the regional and federal governments, left more than an estimated 600,000 people dead and pushed the region to the brink of famine.
The Tigray war was one of the deadliest conflicts of the 21st century. Although the 2022 peace deal aimed to resolve political tensions, key provisions—including the disarmament of Tigray’s armed forces and the return of hundreds of thousands of displaced people—were never fully implemented.
Before the recent large-scale fighting began, approximately 1.9 million Ethiopians continued to experience internal displacement due to conflict, insecurity, and climate-related shocks. Ethiopia is also facing a massive influx of refugees and currently hosts over 1.1 million people, mostly from South Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea, and Sudan. Over 97,000 of these individuals have arrived from Sudan since April 2023.
UN demands immediate ceasefire, warns of regional destabilization
The United Nations has expressed grave concern over the breakdown of the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement (CoHA), which was signed in Pretoria in November 2022 by Ethiopia’s federal government and the TPLF. In a statement issued Friday, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned of the risks of regional destabilization and expressed concern over reports of the presence of Eritrean forces within Ethiopia.
“The Secretary-General is gravely concerned by the renewed fighting in the Tigray, Afar and Amhara regions of Ethiopia. He calls on all parties to cease hostilities immediately and urges the signatories to return to dialogue under the framework of the Pretoria Agreement,” said his spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric.
Through his spokesperson, Guterres reminded all states in the region of their obligation under the UN Charter to refrain from threatening or using force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state and of the principle of noninterference in internal affairs.
“He calls on all states with influence on the parties to use it to support de-escalation and to refrain from any action that could fuel the conflict. He stands ready to offer his good offices,” Dujarric added.
Civil society groups call for accountability and urge the international community to pay immediate attention
On Thursday, a vast coalition of international and regional civil society organizations urged the UN Human Rights Council to swiftly act to avert a humanitarian catastrophe in Ethiopia, warning that the country is descending into a cycle of "atrocity crimes."
In a formal appeal submitted to the Human Rights Council, the coalition urged the body to convene a special session to address the "quickly deteriorating human rights situation" following the massive resurgence of armed hostilities in northern Ethiopia.
“The Council should stand ready to take further action, as appropriate, to address any developments in Ethiopia or the sub-region, send a message of deterrence to all actors, and indicate that those responsible for perpetrating, ordering, or facilitating violations should be held accountable,” the civil society organizations said.
The civil society groups described a harrowing military landscape involving drone strikes, mortar fire, and "indiscriminate airstrikes in populated areas and on civilian infrastructure," which they stated may constitute war crimes.
The coalition drew parallels between the current crisis and the 2020-2022 war, when the government "deliberately obstructed commercial and humanitarian supplies" and imposed an "effective siege on Tigray."
The groups expressed grave concerns about the potential for mass atrocities, citing the previous conflict's history of "massacres of civilians," "widespread conflict-related sexual and reproductive violence," and "ethnic cleansing," which left an estimated death toll in the hundreds of thousands.
They stressed that the lack of accountability for these past crimes, coupled with the dissolution of the International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia (ICHREE), poses a significant risk of impunity for future violations.
The coalition is calling on the Human Rights Council to adopt a resolution that would establish an advisory panel of three independent experts to swiftly assess violations committed since August 2026. The panel would be responsible for compiling a summary report and making specific recommendations to the warring parties and international stakeholders.
Thursday’s appeal also requests that the Council resume public reporting on the situation, coordinate with the African Union, and ensure that those "responsible for perpetrating, ordering, or facilitating violations" are held accountable.
Signatories to the appeal include prominent international human rights groups, such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), and Physicians for Human Rights, as well as numerous regional networks and grassroots organizations from across Africa.