Global Conflict Tracker
← Back to Conflict

Latest News

Conflict in Ethiopia

Ethiopian Human Rights Commission to Probe Death of Political Opposition Figure

  • Bate Urgessa, an outspoken member of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) was shot dead on Tuesday in the city of Meki (AP)

International Creditors Give Ethiopia More Time to Reach IMF Deal

  • The extension until the end of June will give Ethiopia a chance to secure an International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan to maintain an agreement that suspends debt payments (Reuters)

Bloomberg: Ethiopia Weighs Discarding Plan to Recognize Somaliland

  • Appeals from nearby countries including Kenya have prompted Ethiopian officials to consider scrapping plans to recognize Somalia’s breakaway region of Somaliland in exchange for port access to the Red Sea; Kenyan President William Ruto held talks last week on the matter with both Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud (Bloomberg)

U.S. Demands Investigation into Civilian Killings in Ethiopia

  • According to a local Ethiopian rights group, more than eighty people were killed in clashes between government forces and armed militia in the country’s Amhara region last week; the U.S. ambassador to Ethiopia stated that the “U.S. government is deeply concerned” and called for “unfetter access” for independent human rights monitors to investigate the incident (AP)

UN Urgently Demands $142 Million to Increase Food Assistance

  • The World Food Program voiced concerns over worsening food security in Ethiopia amidst a worldwide funding shortage that is affecting its capacity to distribute food (AP)

Ethiopian Legislature Extends State of Emergency in Northern Region

  • Lawmakers extended a state of emergency in the Amhara region that was first imposed in August after clashes there between a local militia army and government forces; tensions between the government and the Fano militia, a group that allied against Tigray rebels in Ethiopia’s civil war, have been high over the government’s decision to integrate special forces into the national army or police (Bloomberg)

Ethiopia Publishes New Details About Controversial Deal With Somaliland Over Port Access

  • Ethiopia’s government posted on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, that the memorandum of understanding allows Addis Ababa fifty years of access to the Gulf of Aden through Somalia’s breakaway region of Somaliland and permission to build naval bases on the Gulf; Ethiopia says the deal enables it to consider formally recognizing Somaliland’s sovereignty, while Somalia has protested the deal (Bloomberg)

Ethiopia Defaults on Sovereign Debt Payment to Bondholders

  • Ethiopia failed to make a $33 million payment by the end of a grace period yesterday following the coupon’s December 11 deadline; the country is currently seeking to renegotiate its sovereign debt under a framework established by Group of Twenty (G20) countries, under which Ghana and Zambia have both made progress in restructuring their debt (Bloomberg)

Ethiopia to Meet With International Bondholders as Default Looms

  • The country’s finance ministry said talks last week failed to reach an agreement on spreading out repayments for a one billion dollar international bond; Ethiopia was unable to pay a thirty-three million dollar bond coupon last week (Reuters)

Ethiopian Authorities Arrest Dozens Ahead of Anti-War Rally

  • At least four organizers of the rally scheduled to take place on Sunday in the country’s capital of Addis Ababa were detained; the demonstrators oppose security operations currently being carried out by Ethiopia’s army in the country’s Oromia and Amhara regions (BBC)

Scientists Say Climate Change Intensified the Rains Battering Eastern Africa

  • An international team of climate scientists concluded that human-caused climate change made rainstorms up to times as intense, affecting millions of people in Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, and elsewhere (AP)

Ethiopia’s Oromiya Region Accuses Rebels of Killing “Many Civilians”

  • The region’s government blamed the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) rebel group for a spate of attacks against civilians in late November (Reuters)

African Development Bank Says Ethiopia Harassed Staff

  • The bank said Ethiopian security forces arrested, assaulted, and detained two of its staff members in an incident that prompted the bank to file a formal complaint with Ethiopian authorities; in a statement today, the bank added that Ethiopia assured the bank that those who broke the law would be brought to justice (Bloomberg)

USAID to Resume Food Aid Across Ethiopia After Five-Month Pause Due to Theft

  • The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) will restart nationwide food aid deliveries next month after restoring aid delivery to around one million refugees in October (AP)
  • The resumption comes with new safeguards to track the aid, as Washington had earlier halted the program due to a widespread corruption scheme among local officials (WaPo)

Abiy’s Red Sea Comments Raise Regional Tensions, Could Intensify Arms Race

  • Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has referred to access to the sea as an existential issue for Ethiopia at the same time as he has mobilized the military and begun to import new weapons; though he has publicly ruled out an invasion, neighbors fear he may try to seize Eritrea’s port of Assab with UAE support (BBC)

Fighting in Amhara Threatens Ancient Churches

  • Residents expressed concerns about the safety of 12th and 13th-century churches carved out of rock after another round of heavy weapons fire conducted by the Ethiopian military near Lalibela; in addition to clashes between government forces and Amhara militias, Amhara and Oromo groups have recently fought in the area (Reuters)

Ethiopia: Western Tigray Status To Be Decided in Referendum

  • The federal government said a dispute over the area would be decided by a vote after federal troops assume control of security and facilitate the return of forcibly displaced residents; the region belongs to Tigray province according to the Ethiopian constitution, but Amhara has long claimed the fertile region and occupied it during the recent war, forcing ethnic Tigrayans to flee (AP)

Ethiopia PM Assures Neighbors He Will Not Invade

  • Neighboring countries feared Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed would launch a military operation to secure access to a Red Sea port, which he says is Ethiopia’s right after Somalia refused to grant such access (Reuters)

Ethiopia, China Upgrade Ties to ‘All-Weather’ Strategic Partnership

  • The announcement came while Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed was in Beijing for a state visit and to attend the Belt and Road Forum; the two countries signed twelve cooperation agreements, Ahmed’s office said (Addis Standard)
  • Meanwhile, Somalia rejected Ethiopia’s request for negotiations over access to a Red Sea port (Bloomberg)

World Food Programme Resumes Food Aid to Ethiopia

  • WFP said it has implemented new safeguards to prevent the theft of aid; it suspended distribution in June, a day after USAID did (Reuters)
  • Meanwhile, the UN warned of heightened risk of atrocities and genocide amid fighting between the central government and local militias (UN)

USAID Resumes Food Aid to Ethiopia

  • Ethiopia recently strengthened its monitoring of food delivery, an unnamed U.S. official told Reuters, prompting the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to resume its aid; reports of food aid being stolen by government officials led donors including the United States to suspend aid earlier this year (Reuters)

UN to Close Investigation Into Human Rights Abuses During Ethiopia’s Tigray War

  • The probe will close at the end of the month after a deadline passed yesterday to renew it (Guardian)

European Union Announces $682 Million Aid Package to Ethiopia

  • After freezing aid three years ago over atrocities committed during the country’s civil war, an EU official said it is time to “gradually normalize relations” (AP)

Documents Reveal Apparent Ethiopian Government Attempt to Discredit WHO Chief

  • World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says he is hesitant to return to his home country of Ethiopia without assurances of his safety after being targeted by the government via allegations of embezzlement and sexual misconduct; Tedros says the claims are a politically motivated “smear campaign” based on his ethnicity and membership in a Tigrayan political party (Bloomberg)

Renewed Fighting Reported in Ethiopia’s Amhara Region

  • Militiamen clashed with security forces in Gondar, the region’s second-largest city, in a continuation of their resistance to the government’s plan to disarm local forces (AP)