In November 2020, war engulfed Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region, pitting the federal government and its allies against Tigray Forces. Amid the nationwide war, one territory—Western Tigray—emerged as the epicenter of conquest, occupation, and humanitarian catastrophe.
From the earliest days of the war, Amhara regional forces, backed by the Ethiopian military, seized the area and imposed a campaign of ethnic cleansing marked by mass expulsions, systematic sexual violence, and forced demographic reordering.
These crimes are not matters of dispute. They have been rigorously documented by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch in a landmark joint investigation, and they form part of the official record of the U.S. Department of State.
The Pretoria Cessation of Hostilities Agreement (COHA), signed on 2 November 2022, promised a different future. It pledged to end hostilities, restore Ethiopia’s constitutional order, and enable the safe and dignified return of millions displaced by the war, including those driven from Western Tigray. Nearly three years on, those promises remain largely unfulfilled.
Western Tigray is no longer just a contested strip of land. It has become the fault line that will decide whether Ethiopia holds together as a federal state, or fractures under the weight of force and impunity. Read more…